South Korean President Moon Jae-in(R) and acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan(L) have a meeting at Cheng Wa Dae in Seoul On June 3, 2019. <Photo=ChengWaDae>

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan agreed that the countries’ alliance is “ironclad” as they work to ensure peace in the region, the Pentagon said Monday.

Shanahan paid a courtesy call on Moon in Seoul on Monday after talks with South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo.

The two discussed the security environment on the Korean Peninsula, the allies’ combined readiness “in support of diplomatic negotiations” aimed at denuclearizing North Korea and ways to strengthen the alliance, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col Dave Eastburn said in a readout.

Shanahan thanked Moon for South Korea’s “continued support for the enforcement of U.N. Security Council Resolutions until North Korea achieves final, fully-verifiable denuclearization,” he said, referring to sanctions on the North.

“Both assessed that the U.S.-ROK Alliance is ironclad and continues to coordinate closely to ensure the Alliance’s combined defense contributes to peace and security in the region,” he added, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.

Shanahan made his first trip to South Korea in his current capacity at a time of renewed tensions over North Korea’s short-range missile launches in May that signaled Pyongyang’s frustration over stalled nuclear negotiations with Washington.

(Yonhap)