Chuck Hagel, US Secretary of Defense. Photo: Reuters

US-South Korea alliance strength is still the key to maintaining stability on the Korea Peninsula. This judgment was stated Thursday in a talk between Chuck Hagel, US Secretary of Defense, and his South Korean counterpart, Kim Kwan-jin. George Little, US Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, said that the two leaders discussed by phone the tensions on  the Korean Peninsula and US ground-based interceptor missile systems and radar tracking stations to respond to North Korean aggression. Hagel re-affirmed US support for South Korea against any threatens from North Korea. The same day, the US sent two Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirits, also known as Stealth Bombers to protect South Korea against a North Korean attack. North Korea had threatened to cut its military hotline to South Korea and launch attacks against US military units in the Pacific Ocean.