Vice FMs of South Korea, US hold talks amid Washington's push to modernize alliance

Seoul, Oct 10 (IANS) South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-Joo held talks with his US counterpart, Allison Hooker, on Friday, with the bilateral alliance and coordination over North Korea's nuclear issue probably on the main agenda.

Park held a "strategic dialogue" session with Hooker, US undersecretary of state for political affairs, to discuss pending issues ahead of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, according to the foreign ministry, Yonhap News Agency reported.

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

The two sides were 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 October 31-November 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."

On October 2, South Korea's Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back and US Secretary of Army Daniel Driscoll and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in areas including the arms industry and drone development, the defence ministry said.

In the talks held in Seoul, Ahn said bilateral military trust and cooperation have driven their bilateral alliance and proposed for close cooperation on further advancing such ties.

Both sides concurred on the importance of maintaining a robust combined defence posture to deter and respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, with Ahn underscoring the role of the US Forces Korea for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

The defence chief called for expanding mutually beneficial cooperation in areas of science technology and arms industry maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), to which Driscoll concurred.

Ahn and Driscoll also concurred on the growing importance of drones in future warfare and agreed to expand joint research, production and operation of such unmanned assets, according to the ministry.

--IANS

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