South Korea and the U.S. hold a delayed meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group..."Continue to function as a foundation for extended deterrence"

[Anchor]
The fourth meeting of the NCG, the South Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group to curb the North Korean nuclear threat, was held in Washington.

In effect, this is the last meeting of the Biden administration, with the two countries stressing that the NCG will continue to function as the foundation for extended deterrence ahead of the launch of the second Trump administration.

Reporter Cho Yong-sung reports.

[Reporter]
Earlier last month, the Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group's "NCG" meeting, which was postponed due to the domestic emergency martial law crisis, was just around the corner.

The two countries have emphasized the importance of the meeting as it aims to curb and respond to the North Korean nuclear threat, which must be thorough.

[Ha Young-gyu / Ministry of National Defense Spokesperson (Last month, 24th): The NCG (Nuclear Consultative Group) issue is being discussed closely by both Korea and the U.S. in order to hold it as soon as possible.]

[Kurt Campbell / U.S. Deputy Secretary of State (Last month, 24th): We expect an important mechanism in the Korea-U.S. relationship to be maintained, and we think the schedule of the meeting is important.]

In the end, the fourth NCG meeting, which was postponed for more than a month, was held in Washington.

In a joint press statement, the two countries warned that any North Korean nuclear attack on the United States or its allies was unacceptable and would result in an end to the regime.

The U.S. has also reaffirmed its commitment to frequently deploy strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula and actively disclose them.

In particular, he stressed that the NCG reaffirmed that it will continue to function as a foundation for strengthening the Korea-U.S. integrated extended deterrence.

This is interpreted as reflecting concerns that the role of NCG could be reduced after the inauguration of the second Trump administration.

[Yang Wook / Researcher of Asan Institute for Policy Studies: There is a good chance that the NCG (Nuclear Consultative Group) will be affected by the Trump administration's transactional tendency, especially its tendency to downplay alliance security]

Contrary to expectations, the "TTX" training to discuss military procedures in response to the North Korean nuclear scenario was excluded.

It was decided to hold the NCG's next meeting in South Korea ahead of the political turmoil in South Korea and the regime change in the United States, but it did not specify the timing.

I'm YTN's Cho Yong Sung.

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video: Ma Young-hoo
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