South Korea's Deputy Minister for National Defense Policy Cho Chang-rae, center, U.S. Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Cara Abercrombie, left, and Japanese Director General for Defense Policy Taro Yamato shakes hands during the 15th Defense Trilateral Talks held in Seoul, in this photo provided by the defense ministry, Sept. 10. Yonhap

South Korea and the United States will hold a discussion-based exercise simulating North Korea's use of a nuclear weapon next week, Seoul's defense ministry said Thursday, as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen joint deterrence against the North's nuclear threats.

Cho Chang-rae, South Korea's deputy defense minister for policy, and Cara Abercrombie, the U.S. acting deputy under secretary of defense for policy, will lead the tabletop exercise during a two-day meeting slated for Wednesday next week in Washington, D.C., the ministry said.

The exercise, the first such military tabletop exercise to take place as part of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), will "enable a more advanced and cooperative policy coordination between the allies on nuclear and strategic planning in the event of a crisis or contingencies on the Korean Peninsula," it added.

The NCG was established under the Washington Declaration that President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden adopted during their summit in Washington in April last year as part of efforts to enhance the credibility of extended deterrence in the face of the North's continued push to advance its weapons programs.

Prior to the NCG launch, the allies held similar discussion-based drills, known as the Deterrence Strategy Committee tabletop exercise.

Next week Cho and Abercrombie will also lead the fourth session of the NCG meeting, joined by security, defense and foreign policy officials from both sides, the ministry said.

Both sides plan to review progress made through the NCG, in the areas of the security and intelligence-sharing process, nuclear consultations and strategic communications in the event of contingencies, conventional nuclear integration, and exercises and simulated drills, it added.

The upcoming NGC session is expected to be the last such meeting to be held under the Biden administration. (Yonhap)