According to the Yonhap News Agency on January 3, the White House confirmed on the same day that South Korea and the United States had not discussed "joint nuclear exercises". Just a few hours ago, a reporter asked US President Joe Biden whether the two allies were discussing this issue. Biden replied "No". In an interview with the media the day before, South Korean President Yin Xiyue said that in order to effectively implement "extended deterrence", he was discussing the concept of joint planning and joint exercises with the United States on nuclear forces, and the United States was "quite positive". According to the report, a spokesman of the National Security Council of the United States said via e-mail: "As the President (Biden) said, we did not discuss joint nuclear exercises. South Korea is a country that does not hold nuclear weapons." The spokesman said that Biden and South Korean President Yin Xiyue had asked their teams to make plans for "effectively and cooperatively coping with a series of possible situations" after the Phnom Penh talks last November, "This is what the teams of both sides are doing." According to the report, the South Korean presidential palace is also trying to prevent the spread of a view that the two allies may have differences on this sensitive geopolitical issue. Kim Eun hye, the spokesman of the South Korean President, said in a statement that "joint nuclear exercises are words used between nuclear weapon countries". Therefore, when a reporter asked Biden directly whether he was "discussing joint nuclear exercises", he obviously could only answer "no". Kim said that the ROK and the US are conducting consultations on planning and implementing the US nuclear action and sharing relevant information. The report also said that, at the same time, a senior official of the Biden government said in an interview that Seoul and Washington "are considering strengthening information sharing, improving emergency response capabilities and finally launching desktop exercises". In addition, the ROK's Ministry of Defense said on the 3rd that the ROK and the US are discussing various plans to strengthen extended deterrence cooperation on the basis of close cooperation. Yonhap News Agency reported that Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Quan He Kui made the above statement at the press conference the same day on the statement that the US side seemed to deny the content of Yin Xiyue's speech. Quan He Kui said that at the ROK US security conference held in November last year, the ROK and the US agreed to strengthen cooperation in various fields related to extended deterrence in order to effectively respond to the North Korean nuclear missile threat, including information sharing, communication maintenance, joint planning and implementation. As for the "details of joint planning and implementation of nuclear power utilization plan", Quan He Kui said that the ROK and the US are discussing various plans, but it is not appropriate to disclose the details here. The information will be released when the time is ripe. The report also pointed out that South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong Sub and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a joint statement aimed at strengthening extended deterrence cooperation after the 54th ROK US Security Conference held in the US Defense Ministry building last year. The specific cooperation programs agreed by the ROK and the US include information sharing, communication in case of crisis, joint planning and joint implementation. According to the report, the "joint planning" refers to the process in which the ROK participates in the formulation of the US nuclear policy and strategy, nuclear war plan, deterrence and response plan. "Communication in case of crisis" refers to the establishment of a dialogue mechanism to ensure emergency response, which can be interpreted as that the US side can reflect the views of the ROK when making decisions on nuclear issues. "Joint implementation" includes joint exercises. (Outlook New Times)