[Yonhap News Photo]
The chief of the United States Pacific Command said diplomacy should outweigh military means in efforts to denuclearize North Korea. Admiral Harry Binkley Harris made the remark during his meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.
"Diplomacy should always be the main battery, and the defense military wing should be a support," he said.
Harris, in charge of the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, is visiting Seoul, along with US Strategic Command head Gen. John Hyten and Missile Defense Agency Director Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves, to discuss North Korean threats and inspect the allies' joint military drill, the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which kicked off Monday.
Kang said, "I think the alliance is a very strong one that goes forward with two wings hand in hand." The minister added she expects to meet with US Defense Secretary James Mattis soon. "I'm happy to continue the discussion ... all toward further consultations on alliance issues that lie in front of us and to strengthen the alliance at a time when the importance of the alliance is as ever great," Kang told Harris.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
