Chairman of Korean joint chiefs of staff, US counterpart agree to enhance cooperation

Chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff held phone talks with his US counterpart on Tuesday and agreed to enhance security cooperation between the two countries against North Korea's military threats.
The talks between Chairman of the Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Kim Myung-soo and his US counterpart General Charles Brown took place amid escalating tensions after North Korea canceled a 2018 inter-Korean agreement aimed at preventing clashes along the border, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

During the talks, the two generals discussed the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and exchanged views on strengthening trilateral cooperation with Japan to deter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
They will make efforts to activate the system for sharing missile warning data in real time with Japan by the end of the year, and will conduct various trilateral exercises, they added.
General Brown reaffirmed America's "extended deterrence" commitment to using the full-range of its military capabilities to defend South Korea. Meanwhile, Admiral Kim described North Korea's recent decision to restore all military activities halted under the 2018 inter-Korean de-escalation agreement as a "direct and existential" threat to South Korea and a "grave challenge" to the international community.

The North scrapped the deal on Nov. 23 after the South partially suspended the agreement in protest of the North's launch of its first military spy satellite on Nov. 21. (QNA)