Countering Threats Of North Korea, South Korea And The US Hold Negotiations

Photo via KNCA

JAKARTA - South Korea (South Korea) and the United States (US) will hold routine defense negotiations to discuss efforts to counter North Korea's military threats and other alliance-related issues in Washington next week, the Ministry of Defense said in Seoul on Friday.

The Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) between the two countries, which lasts two days, will take place next Tuesday.

Launching Antara, Friday, this dialogue was held as the two allies tried to increase security cooperation amid Pyongyang's continuous provocation which recently launched the Hwasan-31 tactical nuclear warhead missile.

Deputy Defense Policy Minister Heo Tae-keun will lead South Korean representatives, while Ely Ratner, assistant defense minister for Indo-Pacific security affairs, and Siddharth Mohandas, deputy defense minister assistant for East Asia affairs, will lead the US delegation.

The negotiations next week will discuss various issues, including coordination of policies on how to respond and prevent the threat of North Korea's nuclear and missile, as well as efforts to strengthen the credibility of America's expanded determinencies, the South Korean Ministry of Defense said.

The expansion of this determinability refers to the US's commitment to using all of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its allies.

The two sides will also discuss increasing cooperation in defense, space and cyber technology, trilateral security cooperation with Japan, to other security issues related to the alliance.

Launched in 2011, KIDD was a comprehensive senior official-level defense meeting between the two allied countries. The last meeting was held in Seoul in August last year.