SEOUL, June 11 (Reuters) – South Korea’s defense minister and his U.S. counterpart on Saturday condemned North Korea’s preparations for a nuclear test, saying they threatened the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and the international community.
South Korea and the United States plan to hold larger joint military exercises to keep pressure on Pyongyang, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement.
North Korea has ramped up missile tests since the start of the year and South Korean and US officials said Pyongyang was preparing to carry out a seventh nuclear test, the first since 2017.
South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met on Saturday at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an international conference on defense and security in the Asia-Pacific held in Singapore.
(Report Heekyong Yang; French version Camille Raynaud)
.
