Defense chiefs of South Korea, US reaffirm 'robust' alliance in call over North Korea's missile launch

Defense Minister Suh Wook, left, and U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Paul LaCamera attends farewell event held for Suh at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on May 5. Yonhap

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States held phone talks Thursday and agreed to closely cooperate to enhance the allies' combined defense posture, Seoul's defense ministry said, a day after North Korea's ballistic missile launch.

During the talks, Defense Minister Suh Wook and his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, condemned the North's launch as a "clear" violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and an act that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific region, according to the ministry.

"(They) agreed to closely cooperate on deterrence through the strong South Korea-U.S. alliance and enhancement of the combined defense posture," the ministry said in a press release.

Austin reaffirmed the U.S.' "iron-clad" security commitment to the defense of South Korea, the ministry said.

On Wednesday, the North fired the missile, which flew 470 kilometers at a top altitude of 780 kilometers and a speed of Mach 11. It marks the North's 14th show of force this year and came less than a week before the inauguration of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol. (Yonhap)

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