Seoul, October 22 (QNA) - South Korea and the United States said Thursday they are looking at "all possible scenarios" that may arise in North Korea which continues to increase its nuclear and missile capabilities while engineering an apparent power succession.
"Details are being looked at very closely," South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told reporters after the annual Security Consultative Meeting with his U.S. counterpart, Robert Gates.
 "The ROK and the U.S. will do all they can to make sure there are no negative effects as a result of such events to the peace on the Korean peninsula," he said. The ROK is the abbreviation of the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.
"In order to do that, we are currently looking into all possible scenarios and developing plans and also to strengthen our cooperation," Kim said. "I can say our interest in this matter is very serious."
The U.S. has 28,500 troops stationed here as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
Gates, who was on a two-day trip to South Korea, said the allies have reaffirmed their goal of "achieving the complete and verifiable denuclearization of North Korea."
"North Korea's emerging nuclear weapons programs have a destabilizing effect both regionally and internationally," he said. "We will stand together."
South Korean media have speculated for weeks that the visit by Gates is aimed at paving the ground for the U.S. to ask South Korea to increase its military contributions to fighting insurgents in Afghanistan, possibly including the deployment of combat troops, Yonhap News Agency reported. (QNA)