South Korean and US defence officials said Sunday they would begin formal talks on the deployment on the Korean peninsula of a US missile system strongly opposed by China.

The announcement followed a North Korean rocket launch that the US and its allies condemned as a covert ballistic missile test.

"It has been decided to formally start talks on the possibility of deploying the THAAD system to South Korea as part of steps to bolster the missile defence of the Korea-US alliance," said Ryu Je-Seung, policy director at the defence ministry in Seoul.(AFP)