A meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group with the U.S. on Dec. 11 was held in Washington for the first time since the inauguration of President Lee Jae Myung. (Yonhap News)

By Koh Hyunjeong

The Ministry of National Defense on Dec.12 said the fifth meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), a bilateral body with the U.S. for extended nuclear deterrence on the Korean Peninsula, was held in Washington the previous day.

This was the first such meeting since the inaugurations of President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Deputy Minister for National Defense Policy Kim Honcheol at the talks stressed that Seoul will play a leading role in the conventional defense of the peninsula.

Robert Soofer, principal deputy assistant secretary of war for nuclear deterrence, chemical, and biological defense policy and programs, reaffirmed Washington's commitment to extended deterrence for Korea using all American military capabilities including nuclear.

Representatives of both sides said in a news release from the U.S. Department of War, "NCG activities, like the Nuclear Deterrence Immersion Course, the NCG Simulation and the conventional-nuclear integration (CNI) table-top exercises enhance the Alliance's cooperative decision-making for potential nuclear contingencies on the Korean Peninsula."

Both sides called the NCG a continuous body for bilateral consultation that bolsters the Korea-U.S. alliance and extended deterrence, agreeing to keep cooperating to achieve substantial progress in NCG workstreams.

Earlier on Nov. 14, Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu-Back and U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a joint statement on the 57th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in Seoul that the two sides will continue the NCG's achievements and regularly receive briefings on the NCG at SCMs.

hjkoh@korea.kr