South Korea and the United States will hold the 4th Korea-US Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) meeting and the 1st NCG Tabletop Exercise (TTX) in Washington DC on May 4-5. The two countries conducted an NCG Technical Training Simulation (TTS) last September. The TTS is a whole-of-government level exercise, while the TTX is a defense sector level exercise.
According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 28th, this NCG TTX will be co-hosted by Cho Chang-rae, Director General of Defense Policy at the Ministry of National Defense, and Kara Abercrombie, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy at the US Department of Defense.
During the NCG TTS, scenarios involving North Korea’s nuclear use were assumed, and Korea-US whole-of-government officials participated to discuss various policy-level North Korean nuclear deterrence and response measures. In the NCG TTX, military and defense officials will discuss military measures to implement policy decisions of the Korea-US governments under the same scenario. The past Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Tabletop Exercise (DSC TTX) has been replaced by the NCG TTX.
At the 4th NCG meeting, Korea and the US plan to review progress on NCG tasks such as security and information-sharing procedures, nuclear consultations and strategic communication during crises and contingencies, establishment of dedicated secure communication systems, nuclear and strategic planning, nuclear-conventional integration (CNI), exercises, simulations, training, and strategic messaging.
The NCG is a bilateral consultative body and a kind of channel through which South Korea can express its opinions on US nuclear operations, and it is a fruit of the Biden administration. There are also concerned forecasts that after this final NCG meeting under the Biden administration, if the Trump administration returns, the US side may propose a new, scaled-down form of nuclear consultation compared to the current one.
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