South Korea and the United States have affirmed plans to execute a joint tabletop exercise(TTX) reflecting a nuclear threat from North Korea.

The U.S. Defense Department said in a statement that the two sides affirmed the plan during the South Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) in Washington D.C. on Thursday.

The department said that the two sides affirmed the plan to execute a discussion-based TTX reflecting a scenario of North Korean nuclear use, consistent with the Washington Declaration and as agreed by the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG).

In the regular defense talks, the allies pledged that their combined exercises would stay responsive to the rapidly changing security environment on the Korean Peninsula. 

The U.S. reaffirmed its ironclad commitment to the defense of South Korea, leveraging the full range of the U.S.’ military capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, missile defense, and advanced non-nuclear capabilities. 

The U.S. also reiterated that any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim Jong-un regime.