The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Friday that the United States and South Korea held the fifth meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
The meeting took place 11 months after the fourth session held on January 10 and marked the first NCG meeting since the meeting between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Defense Policy Director Kim Hong Cheol represented South Korea, while the United States was represented by Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Deterrence and Chemical and Biological Defense Programs Robert Soofer.
According to the joint press statement, Director Kim emphasized South Korea’s commitment to taking a leading role in conventional defense on the Korean Peninsula.
Acting Deputy Soofer reaffirmed the U.S. pledge to provide extended deterrence to South Korea using all categories of U.S. military capabilities, including nuclear forces.
The representatives engaged in comprehensive discussions on various efforts to maintain and enhance nuclear deterrence policy and posture. These talks covered all aspects of extended deterrence, including information sharing, consultation and communication procedures, Conventional-Nuclear Integration (CNI), joint exercises, simulations, and training.
Both officials noted that activities such as advanced nuclear deterrence education, NCG tabletop exercises (TTS), and CNI command post exercises (TTX) strengthen collaborative decision-making between the allies in potential nuclear scenarios on the Korean Peninsula.
The joint press statement revealed that the NCG representatives agreed to continue making substantial progress on NCG tasks, building on the outcomes of the 57th U.S.-South Korea Security Consultative Meeting (SCM). The statement also noted that both representatives approved the NCG mission plan and key activities for the first half of 2024, including the sixth NCG plenary meeting.
The NCG, established in April 2023 during the Biden administration, is a permanent consultative body between the U.S. and South Korea. It was created based on the Washington Declaration to allow South Korea limited participation in U.S. extended deterrence operations in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear capabilities.