US Defense Secretary, S.Korea Defense Minister Underscore Commitment to Deterring North Korea

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik affirmed their iron-clad commitment to deterring North Korea and pledged to make joint efforts for peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula, as well as the Indo-Pacific region. During their meeting in Tokyo, Japan, both sides called on North Korea to immediately cease launching trash balloons toward South Korea, underscoring that launching these balloons, poses a threat to South Korea's sovereignty and violates the truce agreement between the two countries, according to a statement of South Korea's Ministry of Defense. Additionally, both sides expressed their condemnation of the illicit arms trade and military technology transfer between North Korea and Russia and deemed them as unequivocal violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. Source: Qatar News Agency