Seoul: South Korea and the United States plan to hold regular high-level defense talks in Seoul next week, officials said, amid thorny security issues, including Seoul's efforts to regain control of wartime operations. The Ministry of Defense in Seoul announced that the twice-yearly Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to National Iraqi News Agency, this marks the second Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue under the second Trump administration, following the previous meeting held at the Pentagon in early May. Acting Vice Secretary of Defense for Policy Yun Bong-hee is expected to lead the South Korean side, while John Noh, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia, will lead the US delegation. Senior officials from both sides will join the meeting, the ministry announced.
"A range of alliance issues will be addressed at the meeting to help develop the South Korea-US alliance into a comprehensive, future-oriented strategic alliance," the ministry said. A Ministry official said the participants will discuss a wide range of defense issues, including policy cooperation on North Korea and regional security, the combined defense posture of the allies, and the transition of wartime operational command.
South Korea handed over operational command of its forces to the US-led United Nations Command during the Korean War (1950-1953). Control was subsequently transferred to the Allied Combined Forces Command (AFC) upon its launch in 1978. Wartime operational control remains with the United States, while South Korea regained peacetime operational control in 1994. The South Korean government confirmed on Wednesday that the transfer of wartime operational control is one of the key policy objectives it will pursue during President Lee Jae-myung's five-year term.
A Seoul official said bilateral cooperation in the areas of the naval maintenance, repair, and refurbishment market and defense science and technology are also expected to top the agenda. Participants are also likely to discuss strengthening deterrence against North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats and the allies' combined defense posture to respond to the changing regional security landscape.
The Integrated Defense Dialogue meeting comes as the Pentagon is working on its new national defense strategy and reviewing global power dynamics that could impact its defense policy toward South Korea and its management of the approximately 28,500 US troops stationed on the Korean Peninsula. The Integrated Defense Dialogue was launched in 2011 and is a comprehensive high-level defense meeting between the two allies.