South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun (L), Deputy Defense Minister for Policy Cho Chang-rae (R), Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins (2nd from L) and Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Cara Abercrombie pose for a photo after a press conference at the State Department in Washington, D.C., in this Sept. 4, 2024, file photo. They held a session of the allies’ Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group on the day. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea and the United States have put off key nuclear deterrence talks and a related exercise originally set to take place in Washington this week, a Pentagon spokesperson said Tuesday, after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived declaration of emergency martial law.
Seoul and Washington had planned to hold the fourth session of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) in the U.S. capital on Wednesday as part of efforts to strengthen their deterrence efforts in the face of North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats.
“The NCG meeting and NCG-Top Exercise are postponed until further notice. We do not have information on rescheduling,” a spokesperson from the Department of Defense said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency.
Cho Chang-rae, South Korea’s deputy defense minister for policy, and Cara Abercrombie, the U.S. acting deputy under secretary of defense for policy, had been set to lead the tabletop exercise this week, according to Seoul’s defense ministry.
The NCG was launched last year as part of the Washington Declaration that Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden issued during their White House summit in April to strengthen the credibility of America’s extended deterrence commitment to using the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear arms, to defend its ally.
(Yonhap)
