SpaceWar.com reports: “Top U.S. and South Korean defense officials announced an ‘outstanding’ meeting in which several global defense topics were discussed and participants ‘tackled shared challenges … to deepen our friendship.’

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun met Wednesday for the 56th security consultative meeting between the United States and the Republic of Korea.

At a Pentagon press briefing in Washington, the two groups outlined the ‘ironclad’ relationship and defense commitments between the two nations, gave updates on North Korean troop advancement toward eastern Ukraine, and addressed a now-endorsed framework for expanded regional cooperation, and the United Nation’s role.

The United States, according to Kim, gave South Korea its ‘unwavering commitment to provide extended deterrence’ for defense…”