U.S. Will Employ All Means When North Attack South or Japan.

If North Korea attacks South Korea or Japan, the U.S. and its allies are capable to defend the peninsula by all means, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said on Wednesday.

"If North Korea attacks either South Korea or Japan, the U.S. and allies are capable to defend against the attack by employing every means available including a highly improved assault capacity which was seen in Iraq and Afghanistan," Mr. Wolfowitz said during the U.S. House military committee hearings.

His comments are noteworthy as it came just one day after North Korea`s Rho Dong Newspaper warned of physical retaliatory measures as a response to the U.S.` policy of containment.

An important capacity that U.S. has faced with the North Korean threat is the capacity to mobilize reserve forces. The U.S. has mobilized 18%, or 210,000, out of 1.2 million reserve troops, MR. Wolfowitz said.

"It is important that South Korea, our ally, contributes more to protect its own country. South Korea`s defense budget is 2.7% of its GDP. However, South Korea is capable of increasing its current defense budget slightly higher," Mr. Wolfowitz said.

Meanwhile, Peter Brookes, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs Friday (senior researcher in national security affairs at the Heritage Foundation), was quoted in an article from the Far Eastern Asian Review. "Despite the relocation of U.S. forces in South Korea, the U.S.` commitment to South Korean peace will not change."

maypole@donga.com