The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) has highlighted the importance of the U.S.-South Korea alliance. 

According to the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs, JCS Chairman Joseph Dunford met with South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo in Washington on Tuesday.  

Jeong and Dunford discussed the current security environment on the Korean Peninsula and committed to continuing close cooperation as allies and maintaining coordination on security issues of mutual interest.   

The JCS office said Dunford presented Jeong with the Legion of Merit for helping maintain security and stability on the Korean Peninsula with his leadership and diplomatic skills.  

The office called the alliance between the two countries “a lynchpin of stability and security in Northeast Asia."

Last week, the White House also stressed the South Korea-U.S. alliance was “the linchpin of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula” as it announced a plan to hold a bilateral summit between the two countries set for April eleventh.

President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump will sit face-to-face on the eleventh for the first time since the breakdown of the second summit between North Korea and the U.S.