WASHINGTON -- During a phone conversation between Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo, the two leaders expressed their serious commitment to a diplomatic resolution that achieves complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea, Pentagon Chief Spokesperson Dana W. White said.

In a statement summarizing the meeting, White said Mattis and the South Korean minister discussed the results of yesterday’s inter-Korea summit.

In his conversation with Mattis, Song reviewed the Panmunjom Declaration and the efforts to improve North-South relations while achieving the common goal of denuclearization, White said.

Both Mattis and Song expressed serious commitment to a diplomatic resolution that achieves complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea, as reflected in multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions, she said.

Mattis reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. commitment to defend South Korea using the full spectrum of U.S. capabilities, White said.
Both leaders, she said, pledged continued close coordination to implement United Nations Security Council Resolutions and to support diplomatic efforts to achieve denuclearization.