S. Korean, U.S. defense chiefs reaffirm goal of Korean Peninsula's denuclearization

Source
Xinhuanet
Editor
Li Jiayao
Time
2021-03-18 00:07:12

SEOUL, March 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korean and U.S. defense chiefs reaffirmed the common goal of the Korean Peninsula's complete denuclearization during their talks on Wednesday, according to the South Korean defense ministry.

South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook talked in Seoul with the visiting U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who arrived here earlier in the day following his trip to Japan together with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Suh and Austin reaffirmed the South Korea-U.S. common goal of the peninsula's complete denuclearization and the permanent peace settlement, the Seoul ministry said.

They also reaffirmed the conditions-based transfer of the wartime operational control of South Korean forces from the United States, to which Seoul and Washington agreed in 2006.

South Korea's wartime command was handed over to the U.S. forces after the 1950-53 Korean War broke out. South Korea won back its peacetime operational control in 1994.

Austin and Blinken came here after visiting Japan on the first cabinet-level overseas trip by U.S. President Joe Biden's administration members.

The U.S. officials are scheduled to hold a so-called "two plus two" meeting with their South Korean counterparts on Thursday.

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