Presidential office says Seoul, Washington are discussing joint plans involving U.S. nuclear assets

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks with reporters after stepping off Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Monday. [AP/YONHAP]

Yoon Suk Yeol's presidential office said that Seoul and Washington are discussing ways to jointly implement plans involving U.S. nuclear assets, after U.S. President Joe Biden denied that the allies were in talks over holding a joint nuclear exercise.

Biden said Monday that the United States is not discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea on Monday, contradicting remarks by Yoon.

When asked by reporters at the White House if he was currently discussing "joint nuclear exercises" with South Korea, Biden was quoted as Reuters as replying, "No."

In a Chosun Ilbo interview Monday, Yoon said that South Korea is in talks with the United States "to operate U.S. nuclear forces under the concept of joint planning and joint exercises to respond to North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles."

Yoon told the local newspaper that "although nuclear weapons belong to the United States," the two countries must "jointly share information, plan and train" and that Washington holds a "positive position" regarding this.

He added that the "concept of a nuclear umbrella or extended deterrence in the past was to reassure that the United States is going to take care of everything regarding the Soviet Union and China and was before North Korea developed nuclear weapons," and may not be enough to reassure the South Korean public anymore.

"President Biden obviously had to say, 'No,' when asked by the Reuters reporter point blank if 'joint nuclear exercises' were being discussed," said Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential secretary for press affairs, in a statement Tuesday. "Joint nuclear exercise is a term only used between nuclear powers."

She added that the two countries are "discussing information-sharing and joint planning, followed by joint execution, in relation to the operation of U.S. nuclear assets to respond to North Korea's nuclear weapons."

Seoul and Washington agreed to joint planning and joint exercises involving nuclear assets at the 54th Republic of Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting in November last year with their defense chiefs.

The two sides agreed to information sharing and joint planning and execution to deter and respond to North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile threats in their joint communique. They agreed to deploy U.S. strategic assets in a timely manner and enhance such measures and identify new steps to reinforce deterrence.The two sides pledged to conduct table-top-exercises (TTX) annually, which would include a North Korean nuclear use scenario.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]