South Korea and the United States will hold a high-level security meeting Friday that will bring together their top diplomats and defense chiefs for talks on their alliance and cooperation on regional and global matters, the State Department said.
It will be the third time that the two allies have held the so-called "two plus two" meeting after the first one in 2010 and the second in 2012. Attending Friday's meeting will be South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Defense Minister Han Min-koo, U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.
"They will discuss a wide range of issues, with the aim of further strengthening the U.S.-ROK (South Korea) alliance and advancing our bilateral partnership on regional and global affairs," the State Department said in a press release.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the two sides will talk about issues ranging from the threats and rhetoric of North Korea, to regional issues, to economic issues like the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional free trade negotiations.
"We expect it to be a wide-ranging conversation," she said at a regular press briefing. "And I know that Secretary Hagel is also meeting with his counterpart today, and I believe they'll have a press conference later this afternoon."
She was referring to the annual defense ministers' talks that Hagel held with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo Thursday, where they agreed to postpone the planned transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean troops from Washington to Seoul until the South builds enough capabilities to cope with North Korean threats. (Yonhap)
