US, ROK officials discuss DPRK nuke issue, global challenges

WASHINGTON - Top officials of the United States and the Republic of Korea had stressed cooperation in materializing the verifiable denuclearization of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the White House said Tuesday.

US President Barack Obama's National Security Advisor Susan Rice met with National Security Office Director of ROK Kim Kwan-jin Monday. During their meeting, the two officials affirmed their strong commitment to the US-ROK alliance and discussed a number of other bilateral, regional and global issues, according to the statement.

Rice and Kim agreed on the need to counter new and emerging challenges to global security and stability, such as the threat the Islamic State poses to Iraq, Syria and the region, and the threat to West Africa posed by the Ebola virus, and pledged to continue close consultations on a range of regional and global security issues, said the statement.