Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung holds phone talks with his US counterpart, Gen. Dan Caine, on Friday, in this photo provided by the JCS. (Yonhap) Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung holds phone talks with his US counterpart, Gen. Dan Caine, on Friday, in this photo provided by the JCS. (Yonhap)

The top military officers of South Korea and the United States held phone talks on Friday and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation for their alliance, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

JCS Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung and his US counterpart, Gen. Dan Caine, noted the security situation on the Korean Peninsula remains stable on the back of their ironclad alliance and concurred on the importance of deterring North Korean threats through the South Korea-US combined defense posture, the JCS said.

The military chiefs agreed to further discuss alliance issues and ways to strengthen cooperation during their bilateral Military Committee Meeting scheduled to take place in Seoul next month.

Their phone talks marked the first such conversation since Jin took office as JCS chairman late last month.

Jin will hold phone talks with his Japanese counterpart, Gen. Hiroaki Uchikura, later in the day to discuss the South Korea-US-Japan trilateral security cooperation and follow-up measures for a recent defense ministerial meeting, according to the JCS. (Yonhap)