US Forces, South Korean Military Conduct First Public 'Nuclear Disablement Exercise' on Korean Peninsula

by Hwang Yoonju

Published 29 Apr.2023 20:22(KST)

The U.S. Department of Defense announced on the 27th through the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) that from March 20 to 24, the U.S. Army's Nuclear Disablement Teams (NDT) and the Republic of Korea's Nuclear Characterization Teams (NCT) conducted joint training on the Korean Peninsula. (Photo by Yonhap News)

The U.S. Department of Defense recently disclosed that the U.S.-South Korea joint nuclear disablement units conducted combined training on the Korean Peninsula.

According to the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) of the U.S. Department of Defense on the 29th, the U.S. Army's Nuclear Disablement Teams (NDT) and the South Korean military's Nuclear Characterization Teams (NCT) trained together on the Korean Peninsula from March 20 to 24.

This is the first time the U.S. has revealed that it dispatched its mainland nuclear disablement teams to South Korea to conduct joint training with the South Korean military. Disablement refers to measures taken to prevent nuclear weapons from detonating, such as removing the detonation devices.

The U.S. Department of Defense described the nuclear disablement teams as units that "disable nuclear and radiological weapons of mass destruction (WMD) infrastructure and components to deny enemy capabilities and facilitate subsequent WMD elimination operations."

They belong to the CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives) Command, known as the 20th Support Command, stationed at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, U.S., and only three such teams exist across the entire U.S. military.

The South Korean military's Nuclear Characterization Teams belong to the ROK Armed Forces Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense Command under the Ministry of National Defense and are known to perform similar missions to the U.S. nuclear disablement teams. The South Korean military has not officially confirmed the existence of this unit until now.

Considering that the training dates coincided with the 'Freedom Shield' joint exercise (March 13?23) and Ssangryong Exercise (March 20?April 3), it appears that the nuclear disablement teams of both countries conducted joint training as part of the ROK-U.S. joint exercises.

It is also notable that the U.S. disclosed the joint training of the two countries' nuclear response teams on March 27, the day of the ROK-U.S. summit. During the summit, the two leaders adopted the 'Washington Declaration,' which included the establishment of a new extended deterrence consultative body called the 'Nuclear Consultative Group' (NCG) and the continued deployment of U.S. strategic assets, including strategic nuclear submarines (SSBN), on the Korean Peninsula, signaling a shared commitment to strengthening extended deterrence against North Korea.

The U.S. disclosure of the ROK-U.S. joint nuclear response training on the day of the summit, which North Korea is likely to react to most sensitively, can also be interpreted as a warning message to North Korea, which continues its nuclear and missile provocations.