Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke by phone earlier in the day to discuss North Korea and their countries' bilateral alliance, according to department spokeswoman Heather Nauert.

"The secretary told Foreign Minister Kang that the United States remains firmly and fully committed to the defense of the ROK and other allies in the region," she said during a press briefing.

ROK is the acronym of South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

"The leaders agreed to continue our close coordination in response to North Korea's destabilizing violations of UN Security Council resolutions and hold North Korea accountable for its unlawful actions. The two pledged to work closely together to strengthen US-ROK cooperation, and they reaffirmed our joint commitment to a stable, peaceful and denuclearized Korean Peninsula," according to the spokeswoman.

Nauert also emphasized that Washington's policy toward the Koreas has not changed.

"The United States seeks a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. That is a priority that the United States shares not only with our regional partners such as the Republic of Korea in that phone call today, but also people from around the globe," she said. 

South Korea's foreign ministry said that Kang and Tillerson shared their assessment on the latest security situations on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of the North's July 4 ballistic missile provocation and discussed countermeasures, including sanctions, aimed at deterring the reclusive state from conducting additional provocations and making it give up its nuclear ambitions.

The ministry also said that the talks came as a follow-up on a summit their leaders held in Washington last month, adding that the top diplomats agreed to maintain "strategic communication" through diverse channels going forward. (Yonhap)