Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-Joo was set to meet with his US counterpart, Allison Hooker, on Friday and discuss the bilateral alliance and coordination over North Korea's nuclear issues.

Park will hold a "strategic dialogue" with Hooker, US undersecretary of state for political affairs, to discuss pending issues ahead of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, according to the foreign ministry.

It will mark the first such vice foreign ministerial talks between the two nations since July 2021.

The two sides are expected to discuss ways to "modernize" the Seoul-Washington alliance and coordinate their policy on North Korea as the leaders of the two nations are likely to hold talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit set for Oct. 31-Nov. 1 in the South Korean southern city of Gyeongju.

The United States has been pushing to modernize the decades-old alliance in a bid to expand Seoul's defense posture beyond the Korean Peninsula to deter China's threats. It includes readjusting the role and size of US forces stationed in South Korea under a concept known as "strategic flexibility."

Speculation is growing that US President Donald Trump may make a one-day visit to South Korea on Nov. 29 for his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and leave Gyeongju without attending the APEC summit. (Yonhap)

A Conservative South Korean women holds a South Korean and US flag during the celebration of The March First Independence Movement Anniversary on March 1, 2005 in Seoul, South Korea. (Getty Images)
A Conservative South Korean women holds a South Korean and US flag during the celebration of The March First Independence Movement Anniversary on March 1, 2005 in Seoul, South Korea. (Getty Images)