President Joe Biden walks over to speak to reporters after stepping off Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday (local time). AP-Yonhap

Misunderstanding triggers speculation about Biden's comments

By Nam Hyun-woo

Seoul and Washington tried to dispel what is seen as a rift between the two allies in their stances on extended deterrence to thwart North Korea's nuclear threats.

It all began with President Yoon Suk-yeol's remarks during an interview with the Chosun Ilbo daily published on Monday where he was quoted as saying, "South Korea and the U.S. are discussing information sharing, joint planning and joint execution plans regarding U.S. nuclear assets' operation, in order to counter North Korea's nuclear threats."

After Yoon's interview was published, a White House correspondent asked U.S. President Joe Biden whether Washington is discussing "joint nuclear exercises" with South Korea. Biden said, "No," without elaborating.

The U.S. president's denial sparked speculation among South Korean media outlets that there might be discord between Seoul and Washington regarding their responses to North Korea's nuclear threat.

It turned out that the use of the term, "joint nuclear exercises," which was not what the South Korean president said, seems to have triggered the misunderstanding.

Senior Presidential Secretary for Public Relations Kim Eun-hye said, "As the reporter asks, 'are you discussing joint nuclear exercises,' without presenting related context, President Biden had no choice but to say 'No.'" Kim added, "The term 'joint nuclear exercises' is only possible between countries that possess nuclear weapons."

Her remarks indicated that South Korea has no nuclear bombs, so the term "joint nuclear exercises" cannot be applied to a country like the South, and thus the U.S. president's denial made sense.

"South Korea and the U.S. are discussing information sharing, joint planning and joint execution plans regarding the operation of U.S. nuclear assets, in order to counter North Korea's nuclear threats," Kim clarified in a statement released to the media.

In the South Korean version of Kim's statement, she used a term which directly translates into "nuclear war exercise" to stress that the White House correspondent used the wrong terminology when asking Biden, which was different than the words Yoon used in the interview.

An official at the presidential office said the terms "joint planning" and "joint exercise" involving U.S. nuclear assets Yoon said in the interview differ from joint nuclear exercises.

Joint planning is more focused on enhancing information sharing and consultation in the planning stage of U.S. nuclear operations, and exercising the deployment of U.S. nuclear assets on the Korean Peninsula. The concept of joint nuclear exercises, on the other hand, is reserved for countries that possess nuclear weapons, thus Seoul, which has none, is not included.

The U.S. also offered a similar explanation.

Citing a senior U.S. administration official, Reuters reported that joint nuclear exercises with Seoul would be "extremely difficult" because South Korea is not a nuclear power, but that the allies are looking at enhanced information sharing, joint contingency planning and an eventual tabletop exercise (TTX).

A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flies over Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek in this Jan. 10, 2016 file photo. AP-Yonhap

This is in line with an agreement following the 54th Security Consultative Meeting held between Seoul's Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in November of last year.

In the Joint Communique, they "pledged to further strengthen the Alliance's capabilities, information sharing, and consultation process, as well as joint planning and execution," to deter and respond to the North's advancing nuclear and missile threats.

They also promised to "conduct the Deterrence Strategy Committee TTX annually, which is to include a DPRK nuclear use scenario" in response to recent changes in Pyongyang's nuclear strategy and capabilities." DPRK is the abbreviation of North Korea's official name.

Experts view the latest incident as a happening that stemmed from terminology, because what Yoon said was already agreed in the Security Consultative Meeting, and joint exercises, such as the TTX or Support of Nuclear Operations With Conventional Air Tactics (SNOWCAT), are already being discussed.

SNOWCAT is used to enable military assets from non-nuclear countries to support a nuclear strike mission without being formally a part of it.

"This should be seen as an episode, because the president may not be able to know all the details of certain issues," said Go Myong-hyun, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

"Rather, this shows that the U.S. is sensitive about its nuclear strategy being interpreted as nuclear proliferation," Go said, adding that Washington is reluctant to use a NATO-style nuclear planning group in South Korea-U.S. efforts to deter North Korea's threats, even though it is similar to the concept of joint planning.