WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary James N. Mattis met with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha to discuss the current situation on the Korean Peninsula, chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White said in a statement released yesterday.

Kang reviewed the Panmunjom Declaration and the efforts to improve relations between North and South Korea while achieving the common goal of denuclearization, White said in the statement.

Mattis and Kang shared hope that the upcoming U.S.-North Korea talks scheduled for June 12 would provide a historic opportunity to reach a diplomatic resolution that achieves complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea, White said.

Mattis reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. commitment to defend South Korea using the full spectrum of U.S. capabilities. Both leaders pledged continued close coordination to implement North Korea-related U.N. Security Council resolutions and to support ongoing diplomatic engagements, the statement said.