S.Korea, US postpone key nuclear deterrence talks: Pentagon spokesperson
Washington: South Korea and the US have put off key nuclear deterrence talks and a related exercise originally set to take place in Washington this week, a Pentagon spokesperson said, 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 US capital on Wednesday as part of efforts to strengthen their deterrence efforts in the face of North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats, Yonhap news agency reported.
“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 on Tuesday in response to a question from Yonhap news agency.
Cho Chang-rae, South Korea’s deputy defence minister for policy, and Cara Abercrombie, the US acting deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, had been set to lead the tabletop exercise this week, according to Seoul’s Defence Ministry.
The NCG was launched last year as part of the Washington Declaration that Yoon and US 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.