U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis Friday visited the truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo. (Photo:Yonhap News)

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Friday U.S. does not want war but the complete denuclearization of Korea Peninsula.

The Pentagon chief Mattis made the notes in a brief statement after he visited the truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), urging the Kim Jong-un regime to halt provocations .

"As Secretary of State Tillerson has made clear, our goal is not war but rather the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Mattis said, adding that U.S. stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Korean people in confronting Kim Jong-un regime's threats.

South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo emphasized that if North Koreause nuke and ballistic missiles as weapons, it will face retaliation by the strong combined force of South Korea and the U.S..He also called on Pyongyang to return to inter-Korean dialogue as early as possible.

Song and MattisSaturday will hold the 49th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in Seoul, annual talks between the allies' defense chiefs.