U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter assured South Korea of his country's "ironclad" commitment to defending South Korea from North Korea's nuclear threats, the South Korean defense minister said Thursday following the communist country's nuclear test a day earlier.
"Secretary Carter reaffirmed the U.S.' ironclad defense commitment to South Korea, and this includes all kinds of extended deterrence assets," Defense Minister Han Min-koo said in a joint press release with Carter.
The two defense chiefs discussed over the phone on Wednesday how to tighten their security collaboration after the North conducted another nuclear test, its fourth.
Han and Carter also shared their determination that North Korea will not be recognized in the international community as a country that legitimately possesses nuclear capabilities, according to the joint release.
"Both ministers agreed that North Korea should pay a price that is proportional to the provocation," Han said. (Yonhap)