Defense minister Shin Won-sik held talks over the phone with his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin on Friday for the first time since he took office some two weeks ago.

The two officials agreed on the need for Seoul, Washington and Tokyo to continuously engage in security cooperation based on accords reached during a summit of their leaders at Camp David in August.

They also stressed the need to maintain their countries’ combined defense readiness to respond to any threat from North Korea. 

Assessing that the South Korea-U.S. alliance has become one of the most efficient alliances in the past seven decades, Shin and Austin reaffirmed the solidarity of the alliance which they said has become the core of present-day peace and prosperity. 

The two officials then agreed to meet in person during the 55th Security Consultative Meeting and the inaugural South Korea-UN Command Member States Defense Ministerial Meeting which are both set to be held in Seoul next month.