SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea and the United States will hold talks on nuclear deterrence on Friday as part of Washington’s commitment to share more insight with Seoul into planning in the event of conflict with North Korea.
The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol confirmed on Tuesday the second Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) meeting will take place in Washington D.C., five months after the group’s inaugural meeting.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Yoon announced the formation of the NCG during a summit in April as part of a new “Washington Declaration”, under which Seoul also made a renewed pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons of its own.
Yoon has previously hailed the formation of the nuclear group as an upgrade of the alliance which aims to bolster “extended deterrence” against North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Kim Myung-soo held a phone call with his U.S. counterpart Charles Q. Brown on Tuesday, the JCS said in a statement.
During the talks, the two agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and to counter Pyongyang’s deepening military ties with Russia.
Kim and Brown also confirmed plans to launch a real-time data-sharing system to monitor North Korean missiles by the end of this year alongside Japan, the JCS said.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Ed Davies and Sonali Paul)
