S President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to defend South Korea under the two countries' security alliance. Trump made the commitment during a phone call with South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Thursday.

Park said the alliance between the two countries has grown. She also asked Trump to join efforts to achieve regime change in the DPRK. During his election campaign, Trump said he would consider withdrawing the 28,000 US military stationed in South Korea unless Seoul paid a greater share of the cost of the deployment.