De-nuclearize != remove all nukes

I missed this the other day, not sure how. From May 25 White House Press Gaggle:

Q Also, if I may, on a different subject. Yesterday the North Koreans made an interesting statement. Basically your goal in Korea is de-nuclearizing the Peninsula, right?

MR. STANZEL: I'm sorry?

Q The goal in Korea is de-nuclearizing the Peninsula.

MR. STANZEL: Absolutely.

Q So they say, will that include removing the American nuclear weapons from the Peninsula?

MR. STANZEL: I'm sorry, that will --

Q Will that include removing the American tactical nuclear weapons from the Peninsula?

MR. STANZEL: The purpose of the six-party talks has been to have a nuclear-free Peninsula. And working with North Korea on that issue, we expect the North Koreans to live up to the agreement that they made on February 13th. There are -- understand there are some banking issues that hopefully we're going to get through, but the purpose of the talks is to work with North Korea on de-nuclearizing the Peninsula.

Q Right, but what about your own weapons?

MR. STANZEL: I would have to get back to you on the status of American forces there.

I think we know the White House's answer. No, de-nuclearizing the Korean peninsula does not include removing our nukes - only their nukes. It's standard operating procedure, after all; we want everyone else to disarm, shut up, and behave themselves, but we reserve the right to do whatever we think is necessary. That's why we've checked out of so many treaties over the past six years, and why most of the rest of the world despises us.

I'm not quite sure why Stanzel didn't have a better answer ready, though. Didn't he expect a guy from AFP to ask him something pointed?