The United States is not discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea, US President Joe Biden has said, appearing to contradict remarks by his South Korean counterpart, President Yoon Suk-yeol, that Washington and Seoul were in talks on exercises involving US nuclear assets.
\nAccording to international media reports, the South Korean president said in a newspaper interview that Seoul and Washington were in \u201ctalks on joint planning and exercises involving US nuclear assets to counter North Korea\u2019s nuclear threats\u201d.
\nAsked by reporters at the White House on Monday if he was currently discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea, Biden said, \u201cNo\u201d.
\nPresident Yoon\u2019s comments, in an interview published in\u00a0a newspaper on Monday, come at a time of growing tension with North Korea, which test-launched an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles in 2022 and has promised to robustly counter what it views as military planning by the US and South Korea for a possible invasion.
\nIn response to North Korea\u2019s sabre rattling, Yoon has taken an increasingly tough stance and has called for \u201cwar preparation\u201d with an \u201coverwhelming\u201d capability.
\nThe newspaper quoted Yoon as saying the joint planning and exercises would be aimed at more effective implementation of the US \u201cextended deterrence\u201d, which refers to the ability of the US military \u2014 particularly its nuclear forces \u2014 to deter attacks on US allies.
\nTo better respond to North Korea\u2019s nuclear threats, Seoul wants to take part in the operation of US nuclear forces, Yoon told the newspaper.
\n\u201cThe nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but planning, information sharing, exercises and training should be jointly conducted by South Korea and the United States,\u201d Yoon said, adding Washington is also \u201cquite positive\u201d about the idea.
\nOn Tuesday, Yoon\u2019s senior secretary for press affairs, Kim Eun-hye, said that Biden had to say no when asked such a direct question on such a sensitive matter, according to South Korean media.
\n\u201cSouth Korea and the United States are in talks over information-sharing, joint planning and the joint implementation plans that follow, in relation to the operation of US nuclear assets, to respond to North Korea\u2019s nuclear weapons,\u201d she said.
\nThe apparent contradictory statement emerging from Seoul and Washington appeared to cause some confusion.
\nThe US has long had an extended deterrence dialogue with Japan to talk about nuclear issues and initiated the same dialogue with South Korea in 2016, said Thomas Countryman, the former acting undersecretary of state for arms control, who chaired the dialogue\u2019s first meeting.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not immediately clear what in President Yoon\u2019s statement is new and what is a rephrasing of things that are already happening,\u201d Countryman said on Monday in a phone interview.
\nCountryman said Yoon\u2019s comments, directed at the South Korean people, appeared to be in response to what he called North Korea\u2019s provocations and rhetoric.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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