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(CNN)Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has reaffirmed the US' commitment to defend South Korea "against the evolving North Korean threat".
Mattis spoke with the South Korean Defense Minister Han Minkoo Tuesday ahead of his inaugural trip as secretary of defense to visit Japan and South Korea, the US' closest Asian allies.
Han and Mattis expressed their commitment to proceed with the THAAD missile defense system deployment and the need for closer co-operation on policies on North Korea, according to a statement released by the South Korean Ministry of Defense.
The THAAD system is designed to take down incoming projectiles and has been cited as a way to potentially stop a nuclear attack from North Korea.
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The phone call between Mattis and Han comes amid analysis of new satellite imagery that suggests North Korea is restarting a plutonium reactor.
Tensions are already high on the Korean Peninsula after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said his country was close to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) -- the type of projectile that would be used to deliver a nuclear warhead -- in a televised New Year's Day address.
In the speech, Kim referred to North Korea as a "nuclear and military power in the east" and warned the US and its "vassal forces to stop nuclear threat and blackmail," according to state news agency KCNA.
In 2016 North Korea backed up its fiery rhetoric with two nuclear tests -- the country had only conducted three before in 2006, 2009 and 2013 -- and a handful of land and sea-based missile tests.
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