S. Korea, US open alliance talks

South Korea and the United States began working-level defense talks in Seoul on Wednesday on North Korea and pending alliance issues.

The two-day Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue meeting, the 12th of its kind, got under way amid sharp military tensions on the peninsula over North Korea's provocations.

Agenda items include policy coordination against the North's nuclear and missile programs, Washington's commitment to extended deterrence and the transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean troops, according to the Ministry of National Defense.
 

Chang Kyung-soo (L), acting chief of South Korean defense ministry`s policy planning office, shakes hands with Roberta Shea, the U.S. acting deputy assistant secretary of defense, during their talks in Seoul on Sept. 27, 2017, in this photo provided by Chang`s ministry. (Yonhap)

South Korea's delegation is led by Chang Kyung-soo, acting chief of the ministry's policy planning office. His American counterpart is Roberta Shea, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense.

The two sides are apparently laying the groundwork for their Security Consultative Meeting, the annual defense ministerial talks to take place in Seoul late next month.

Launched in 2011, the biannual KIDD is a comprehensive defense meeting between the allies. (Yonhap)