<Anchor>
The concept that the United States, a nuclear power, will allow other nations to share its nuclear weapons is the
nuclear umbrella. The ability of the United States to deter war through this nuclear umbrella and its military might is called "extended deterrence." We and the United States have announced that we will separately issue a statement on deterrence of expansion after the summit tomorrow (26 May).

[Jake Sullivan/White House National Security Adviser: I believe that statement will be a clear signal of the credibility of our extended deterrence commitment.]

It is unprecedented for us and the United States to issue a separate document on extended deterrence at normal levels.

Reporter Kim Ah-young pointed out what this means.

<Reporter>
U.S. commitment to extended deterrence to South Korea, which upholds the principle of
denuclearization, is, after all, a matter of capability and will.

At last year's summit, the United States and South Korea agreed that U.S. extended deterrence includes nuclear weapons as well as conventional missile capabilities.

At the moment, it is difficult to doubt the nuclear capabilities of the United States.

The question is whether North Korea's ICBM development is nearing completion and is willing to provide extended deterrence to allies at the expense of the U.S. mainland.

Since it is not enough to ask us to believe in nuclear capabilities without sharing information and how to mobilize strategic assets on the Korean peninsula in an emergency, we can expect the effect of extended deterrence only by sharing operational plans from the preparatory stage through the ROK-U.S. consultative body and proposing more advanced measures in the direction of preparation.

This is to remain a completely separate diplomatic document that is not part of the joint declaration of the talks.

The United States appears to have calculated not only to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons but also to silence negative public opinion in South Korea, which claims to be its own nuclear armament.

[Jake Sullivan/White House National Security Adviser: We believe that South Korea has and will continue to fulfill its nonproliferation obligations under the Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty.]

The operation of US strategic assets and the extent to which the expansion deterrence consultation body can be permanently established are expected to be outlined after tomorrow's talks.

The common goal of the United States and South Korea is to prevent North Korea's misjudgment and prevent the possibility of nuclear use, and North Korea is expected to moderate its opposition depending on the outcome of the talks.

(Video Interview: Joo Bum and Choi Choi-woong, Editing by Cho Moo-hwan)