The Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified Wednesday that the terms “denuclearization of North Korea” and “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” both refer to the denuclearization of North Korea.

The clarification addresses the differences in wording between the joint statement from the trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting of South Korea, the United States and Japan that took place in New York on the 22nd and the press release announcing the meeting's results.

In the joint statement, the three diplomats reaffirmed their commitment to the "complete denuclearization of North Korea" whereas the ministry's press release stated that the three nations had agreed to uphold the "principle of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" and a deterrence posture regarding Pyongyang.

In response, the ministry said that the language in the press release was intended to emphasize that the denuclearization principle has already been agreed upon multiple times, including in the 1992 Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and 2018 Singapore Joint Statement between the United States and North Korea.

In February, during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, the government announced that South Korea and the U.S. had agreed to use the term "denuclearization of North Korea" rather than "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."