SEOUL, Oct. 27 -- Visiting U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Friday that his country seeks no war, but denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The U.S. defense chief arrived in South Korea earlier in the day and visited the Joint Security Area (JSA) at the truce village of Panmunjom on the first day of his two-day trip.
During the visit, Mattis said his country's goal was not war but a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the peninsula, according to local media reports.
Mattis said the United States stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the South Korean people to counter threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), noting that his country made clear its willingness toward diplomatic solutions to deal with the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula.
Inside the JSA, soldiers of South Korea and the DPRK stand face-to-face just meters away from each other. It is Mattis' first visit to Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.
Mattis, who took office in January, made his first trip to South Korea in February, but he did not visit the JSA at the time.
His comments on diplomatic solutions came amid escalated tensions on the peninsula.
The DPRK conducted its sixth nuclear test in early September and a series of ballistic missile launches in recent months.
The war of bombastic rhetoric was exchanged between Pyongyang and Washington. UN Security Council adopted a new resolution toughening sanctions on the DPRK over its sixth and most powerful nuclear detonation.
Despite the UN Security Council's unanimous denunciation, Mattis said, the DPRK continued provocations, posing a threat to security in the region and the world.
He promised to maintain a firm military preparedness for peace and stability on the peninsula and the defense of the two allies, saying the U.S.-South Korea alliance lasted for more than 60 years and was built on trust.
South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo, who accompanied the Pentagon chief, told reporters that nuclear and ballistic missiles the DPRK developed are weapons that cannot be used.
If the DPRK uses them, Song said, it will face retaliation by the strong combined forces of South Korea and the United States.
He strongly urged Pyongyang to stop reckless provocation and return to the inter-Korean dialogue for peace.
Song and Mattis will hold the 49th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), an annual security dialogue between South Korea and the United States, at the defense ministry's headquarters in Seoul on Saturday.
Attending the meeting will be senior defense and diplomatic officials from both sides, the Seoul ministry said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, the 42nd Military Committee Meeting (MCM) was launched in Seoul between Jeong Kyeong-doo, chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and his U.S. counterpart Joseph Dunford.
On the dialogue agenda were recent security situations, the establishment of the combined military preparedness and the transfer of conditions-based wartime operational control of South Korean forces from Washington to Seoul.
The security meetings between top defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States came ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's two-day state trip to South Korea from Nov. 7.
During his stay, Trump will hold a summit meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and deliver a speech in the National Assembly.
名师点评大学英语六级考试真题
名师指导英语四六级考前别再背单词主攻真题
英语四六级冲刺常见问题及解答
六级作文考试时候的注意事项
四级考试提醒警惕5大致命伤
英语六级试题答案解析完整版
老话重谈四六级名师给考生的15条箴言
答疑关于六级听力的问题
预测6月英语四六级试题
冶好英语四六级瘸腿考生
英语四六级还剩一个月我该怎么复习听力
名师指导英语四六级写作三段结构重视小错
名师传授四六级写作三思后行紧扣主题
冲刺必备大学英语四六级写作点睛之笔
6月英语四六级冲刺绝招及名师考前预测
名师指导6月英语四六级冲刺备考方法
名师分析四级真题谈复习备考
名师指导四六级写作高分须遵循的法则
四六级听力之猜题技巧
英语四级答案全解析
英语四六级名师考前冲刺指导综合题
名师考前冲刺指导英语四级词汇快速记忆
12月英语四级听力篇章解析
名师赵建昆指导四六级考前复习备考方略
名师传授高分策略抓住四六级备考的黄金期
英语四六级冲刺复习高分绝招
答疑六级作文考试时候的注意事项
英语四六级就像追女生
总结英语六级完形务必掌握的单词
名师指导英语六级考试阅读备考常见的问题
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |