N. Korea called continuing threat

Although North Korea has begun dismantling its nuclear facilities, it remains a threat to the region, South Korea’s defense minister said Wednesday.

At a news conference with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo said North Korea continued to develop conventional weapons.

“What is certain is that North Korea is continuing to pursue the acquisition of asymmetrical weapons,” Kim said. “Therefore we cannot conclude that the threat from North Korea has been reduced.”

North Korea led the agenda in Wednesday’s talks, and in a joint statement issued afterward, South Korean and U.S. officials said North Korea was still working on long-range missiles and other weapons. Proliferation of those weapons remains a danger, the statement said.

Gates added that a nuclear and conventional weapons threat from North Korea “remains the focal point” of the U.S.-South Korean alliance.

The Pentagon chief said he welcomed the dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear facilities but noted that several steps remain in its denuclearization.

“We are started on a path, but we are far from reaching our destination,” Gates said.

Work on disabling three major facilities, including a five-megawatt reactor that generates plutonium, began this week at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear complex, 60 miles north of the capital, Pyongyang.

Sung Kim, the U.S. State Department official who visited the Yongbyon site this week, said the North Koreans were very cooperative and predicted the dismantling could be completed by year’s end.

Gates is in South Korea for the Security Consultative Meeting, an annual gathering of officials from the two nations. Privately, U.S. military officials said delegates at this year’s meetings were trying to avoid major announcements to avoid influencing South Korean elections in December.

About 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, down from 37,500 in 2004. The U.S. plans to draw those forces down to 25,000 by 2012, when South Korea will take full control of its military forces from the United States.

A small group of protesters opposed to the U.S. troop presence in South Korea jeered Gates on Tuesday as he arrived in Seoul. Gates was asked Wednesday whether further cuts of U.S. forces were possible. He said troop levels would depend on the security situation, but underscored that the U.S. remained committed to South Korea

“It is my expectation that we will continue to play a role in the security of the peninsula for a long time,” Gates said.

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julian.barnes@latimes.com