Earlier, the South Korean president said in a newspaper interview that Seoul and Washington were in “talks on joint planning and exercises involving US nuclear assets to counter North Korea's nuclear threats”

Photo Credit : US Army,

US President Joe Biden has said that the US is not discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea, appearing to contradict remarks made by his South Korean counterpart, President Yoon Suk-yeol, that Washington and Seoul were discussing exercises involving US nuclear assets.

In a newspaper interview, the South Korean president said that Seoul and Washington were in “talks on joint planning and exercises involving US nuclear assets to counter North Korea's nuclear threats.”

On Monday, Biden told reporters at the White House that he was not currently discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea.

President Yoon's comments, made in an interview published on Monday in the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, come at a time of rising tensions with North Korea, which has promised to vigorously counter what it sees as military planning by the US and South Korea for a possible invasion.

In response to North Korea's threats, Yoon has taken a stricter stance, calling for “war preparation” with “overwhelming” capability.

According to Yoon, the joint planning and exercises will aim to improve the effectiveness of the US “extended deterrence” which refers to the ability of the US military — particularly its nuclear forces — to deter attacks on US allies.

Yoon told the newspaper that Seoul wants to participate in the operation of US nuclear forces in order to better respond to North Korea's nuclear threats.

“The nuclear weapons belong to the US, but planning, information sharing, exercises, and training should be conducted jointly by South Korea and the US,” Yoon said, adding that Washington is “quite positive” about the idea.

According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, Yoon's senior secretary for press affairs, Kim Eun-hye, said on Tuesday that Biden had to say no when asked such a direct question on such a sensitive matter.

“When asked directly if joint nuclear exercises were being discussed, President Biden obviously had to say, No,” Kim said in a statement, according to Yonhap.