한미 국방장관 회담
We start this afternoon at Seoul's defense ministry,... where U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis has wrapped up talks with his South Korean counterpart Han Min-koo.
President Trump's new defense chief didn't mince his words on North Korea,... saying an attack by the regime on any of Washington's allies would be an idea it would quickly regret.
For more details we connect live to our Kim Hyun-bin who is standing by at the ministry for us.
Hyun-bin,... strong words from Mattis,... but walk us through what was said....
Good Afternoon.
U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and South Korea's defense minister Han Min-koo sat down for a little less than an hour for their first face-to-face meeting since Mattis was sworn in by President Trump around a week ago.
Emerging from the talks,... Mattis said the two allies are taking defensive measures to counter North Korea's evergrowing nuclear and missile threats.
He added that any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea would be met with a overwhelming response.
Let's take a look at what he had to say.
"Any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming."
The two allies also discussed additional defensive measures to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats including the deployment of U.S. missile defense system THAAD.
The THAAD battery is expected to be deployed on South Korean soil by the middle of this year at the earliest.
South Korea's defense chief said the meeting shows how committed the allies are to countering North Korea's threats.
""These South Korea-U.S. defense talks show that our resolve to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats is unwavering... and it serves as a strong warning to Pyongyang."
.
The two defense chiefs are expected to have discussed North Korea's threat last month to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Experts have speculated North Korea could launch an ICBM on February 16th to mark the birthday of its late former leader Kim Jong-il.
After the talks wrapped up,... Minister Han and Secretary Mattis visited the Seoul National Cemetery to pay their respects to the soldiers who lost their lives in the Korean War.
Later today, Mattis will fly to Tokyo for talks with his Japanese counterpart.
The North Korea threat is likely to top the agenda there as well.
I'll be back with more updates throughout the day.
Back to you.
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