SKorea, US urge North to implement denuclearization pledges

South Korea and the United States urged North Korea to implement the disarmament pledges it made in past talks, saying Thursday the allies will keep pushing for diplomacy aimed at achieving the North’s complete denuclearization. A joint statement, issued by South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and U.S. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, comes a day after North Korea abruptly announced it would suspend steps that would have nullified 2018 tension-reduction deals and further raised animosities on the Korean Peninsula. In the statement primarily marking the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, the allies' defense chiefs said they “remain firmly committed to defending the hard-fought peace on the Korean Peninsula, to include supporting ongoing diplomatic efforts for the complete denuclearization of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”