SEOUL (RockedBuzz via Reuters) – The first meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) between South Korea and the United States will be held on July 18 in Seoul, South Korea’s presidential office said on Saturday.
The meeting will discuss “information sharing, consultation mechanism, and joint planning and execution designed to enhance nuclear deterrence against North Korea.”
The NCG was first announced during the bilateral summit in Washington in April amid growing demands in South Korea for its own nuclear bombs, a step Washington opposes.
The announcement was greeted with concern by Beijing’s Korean affairs envoy.
“China is concerned about the meeting of the ROK-US Nuclear Advisory Group to strengthen the enforcement of US extended deterrence,” said Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese government’s special representative on Korean Peninsula affairs, in a tweet.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said the group strengthened the alliance with the United States
The inaugural meeting will be co-chaired by South Korea’s top deputy national security adviser Kim Tae-hyo and US National Security Council coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs Kurt Campbell, according to the report.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Sandra Maler and Kim Coghill)
