The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States have agreed to sternly deal with illegal arms transfers between North Korea and Russia. 

According to Seoul’s defense ministry, defense minister Shin Won-sik and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reached the agreement in a phone call on Wednesday. 

The two sides reportedly shared the view that growing military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, including their illegal arms transfers, poses a serious threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as well as the world at large, and decided to firmly respond in cooperation with the international community.

Shin and Austin also strongly condemned North Korea for escalating tensions on the peninsula this year, with its test-firing of new missiles and artillery firing near the de facto inter-Korean maritime border, the Northern Limit Line. 

The two sides reaffirmed the importance of maintaining a strong South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture and close bilateral coordination to deter threats from the North.

The ministry said that the defense chiefs emphasized the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of South Korea, and agreed to work to realize “peace by power” on the Korean Peninsula. The two sides also agreed to further strengthen extended deterrence and security cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan.