The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States have assessed a new combined military exercise as "successful."

South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan gave the assessment on Monday during talks at the Pentagon.

The talks came after the allies conducted a new combined military exercise, named Dong Maeng, in March, which replaced the large-scale Key Resolve exercise to support diplomatic efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program. 

Shanhan said while the recent exercise was very successful, the allies have also learned about improvements they can make for their fall exercises, adding they will apply the lessons to future drills.

When asked about concerns that scaling back exercises could weaken readiness, Shanahan disagreed that they are being scaled back, saying the allies are building their capability. 

At the start of the meeting, the South Korean defense minister said that the allies could reaffirm their strong alliance through the recent Dong Maeng drill.  

Jeong added the drill served as a "useful" opportunity to confirm the allies' firm defense posture and test their operational capability ahead of the envisioned transfer of wartime operational control from Washington to Seoul.