Korea, U.S. to hold senior defense talks

South Korea and the U.S. are set to launch a new high-level military dialogue channel this week to discuss the bilateral alliance and increasing threats from North Korea.

The first Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue will be begin on Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Korea will be represented by Deputy Minister of Policy Lim Gwan-bin in the two-day meeting, while the U.S. side will be led by James Miller, the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense nominee.

Seoul and Washington agreed to establish the Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue, or KIDD, in October last year as a high-level communications channel for overseeing the Security Policy Initiative, or SPI, and Strategic Alliance 2015 Working Group, or SA2015WG. The KIDD also encompasses the Extended Deterrence Policy Committee, or EDPC.

This week’s meetings will comprise of high-level talks between Lim and Miller, and the main conference that encompasses the functions of the SPI, SA2015WG and the EDPC, the Ministry of National Defense said.

According to the Ministry of Defense, officials will discuss North Korean policies since the failure of Pyongyang’s long-range rocket launch, and ways to cooperate in this regard. The two sides will also discuss the current status of the Korea-U.S. alliance and its future, as well as issues regarding Korea-U.S. defense and the foreign ministers’ meeting scheduled for June, the ministry said.

Also on the agenda will be the topics and schedule for the 44th Security Consultative Meeting that will be held in October.

The results of the meeting will be announced on Friday.

“This is a conferring body agreed by the defense ministers of Korea and the U.S. during last year’s Security Consultative Meeting that will be held biannually,” a Defense Ministry official said.

“The quarterly SPI and SA2015WG meetings will continue as before.”

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)