WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement on the administration’s decision to establish a Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG):
“We welcome the administration’s decision to establish a NCG. South Korea has had a long-standing request for deeper consultations on nuclear planning. The commitment to revitalize the alliance’s deterrence-related exercises and resume the regular and unpredictable rotation of strategic assets into theater will help strengthen deterrence.
“However, for the NCG to improve the alliance’s strategic posture significantly, it must be about more than branding and declarations. Our adversaries have not reduced the role of nuclear weapons in their national security strategies, and the breakneck speed of North Korea’s nuclear posture buildup demands that the alliance adapt. Given this growing threat, the NCG should serve as a forum to discuss, along with all relevant issues, the circumstances under which a return of U.S. nuclear weapons to the Korean theater would become necessary.”
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