Washington: The United States has reaffirmed its commitment to providing extended deterrence to South Korea during the first meeting of a key nuclear deterrence body under U.S. President Donald Trump's second term, officials reported on Friday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the fifth meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) took place in Washington on Thursday, as stated by Seoul's defense ministry. The fourth NCG talks occurred in January. This week's meeting was led by Kim Hong-cheol, the deputy minister for national defense policy, and Robert Soofer, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense in charge of nuclear deterrence, chemical and biological policy.
In a joint press statement, Soofer reiterated the U.S. commitment to provide extended deterrence to South Korea, utilizing the full range of U.S. defense capabilities, including nuclear. Kim emphasized that South Korea will take a "leading role" in the conventional defense of the Korean Peninsula, marking the first time Seoul has made such a commitment in a joint statement after NCG talks.
The allies reviewed progress on NCG workstreams and recognized the NCG as an enduring bilateral consultative body to strengthen the U.S.-ROK Alliance and enhance extended deterrence. The latest NCG session marked the first gathering under Trump's second term, following a near one-year hiatus since the fourth meeting, which had raised doubts over whether Trump would inherit key deterrence programs from the Biden administration.
The NCG was established following a summit between former President Yoon Suk Yeol and former U.S. President Joe Biden in April 2023. The nuclear deterrence body was designed to reinforce the credibility of the U.S. extended deterrence commitment to use the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend South Korea.
The meeting occurred as President Lee Jae Myung's administration seeks to enhance independent defense capabilities, while the U.S. encourages its Asian ally to play a more significant role in defense to modernize its longstanding alliance with the South. Lee has promised to increase the country's defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP and regain wartime operational control from Washington during his five-year term.
Notably, the latest NCG statement did not mention North Korea, unlike previous joint documents. A statement after the fourth NCG session included a U.S. warning against any nuclear attack by North Korea, deeming it "unacceptable" and threatening the "end of that regime." Such language may have been excluded to support Trump's efforts to resume summit diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The joint statement noted that both sides engaged in in-depth discussions on all areas of extended deterrence, including information sharing, consultation, and communication processes, as well as "conventional-nuclear integration." However, it did not mention "joint planning and execution" of nuclear strategy or the U.S. commitment to enhance the "regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets" on the Korean Peninsula.
The allies approved future plans for the sixth NCG meeting, scheduled for the first half of 2026. In response to a local news report expressing concerns about the potential weakening of the U.S. extended deterrence commitment, the defense ministry stated that bilateral cooperation on extended deterrence is "deepening and taking shape." The ministry maintained that both South Korea and the U.S. agree that discussions are advancing through the NCG and their stance against tolerating North Korea's nuclear program remains firm.