South Korean President Moon Jae-in says the ironclad alliance between South Korea and the United States was demonstrated through their joint response toward North Korea's recent provocations.
This came during a luncheon with the top South Korean and U.S. military commanders at the Blue House on Tuesday.
It was the first meeting with such a select few commanders from the two sides, since President Moon took office.
The president emphasized that the driving force of the peace process on the Korean Peninsula is the two countries' strong partnership.
He said improved inter-Korean relations and the easing of military tensions, based on that alliance, are helping the denuclearization talks between Pyeongyang and Washington.
General Robert Abrams, Commander of U.S. Forces Korea, also thanked President Moon for his support, which has allowed the military to maintain readiness against any situation.
The president stressed that the two countries' alliance should not be a temporary one. He says it needs to continue even after peace is established on the Korean Peninsula to secure the peace and stability of the entire Northeast Asian region.
A senior South Korean government official says the next inter-Korean summit will focus on substance rather than formality to lay the groundwork for another Pyeongyang-Washington summit.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, this official said... the next inter-Korean summit's goal would be to lay the groundwork for another Pyeongyang-Washington summit, which will not require special envoys or high-level talks.
However, it seems communication between South and North Korea isn't going smoothly.
The North's minister of the joint liaison office has been absent for almost three months since the Hanoi summit.
Seoul's defense ministry is hoping to patch up strained relations with its neighboring countries of China and Japan by holding ministerial-level talks ahead of the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's biggest security forum held in Singapore next week.
Dialogue is key when it comes to healing relationships and that's what seems to be the goal of Seoul's defense ministry as it seeks to improve soured military relations with neighboring countries.
If a ministerial-level meeting with China takes place, it would be the first time such a meeting takes place in over a year-and-a-half... after ties between Seoul and Beijing went cold following a diplomatic row stemming from Beijing's opposition to Seoul's decision to deploy the U.S. THAAD missile defense system on the Korean peninsula.
The need for continuous dialogue was highlighted by the three sides during a trilateral defense meeting earlier this month, with all participants agreeing that special emphasis must be placed in issues regarding North Korean threats as well as maintaining regional stability and safety.
In addition, Japan's recent conciliatory gesture is seen as a major reason kindling a sense of cooperation, as Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya reportedly said he wants to bring Tokyo's relationship with Seoul back to normal.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued "strong concern" that Chinese-made drones may be sending flight data back to China.
According to CNN, U.S. companies have been warned to exercise caution when buying devices, which could "transfer American data into an authoritarian state which permits its intelligence services to have unfettered access" to such information.
While the warning did not specify the companies, it is presumed to target DJI, China's number one drone-maker which accounts for almost 80 percent of drones in the U.S. and Canada.
The warning comes amid the ongoing trade dispute between Washington and Beijing, and after President Donald Trump's order last week that bans U.S. firms from doing business with China's Huawei.
But to minimize impact on Huawei's existing U.S. customers and enable software updates, Washington on Monday eased some of the restrictions, allowing Huawei to buy American products for 90 days.
Source: Arirang News
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