Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said there will be no nuclear weapons development in South Korea during annual security talks with the United States.

Ahn made the comment at a joint press conference on Tuesday alongside U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, following a session of the 57th Security Consultative Meeting(SCM) in Seoul.

In response to a question on a potential push for nuclear arms development, the minister said South Korea is prohibited from such development as a member state of the Nonproliferation Treaty and that denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula is an unwavering promise.

When asked about Seoul's hope for redeployment of Washington's tactical nuclear weapons to the peninsula, Ahn referred to the conventional-nuclear integration of U.S. nuclear assets and South Korea's conventional weapons.

The minister said he and his U.S. counterpart had reaffirmed their steadfast military alliance and strong combined defense posture and discussed a joint response to the rapidly changing security environment based on mutual trust and cooperation.