Allies to hold high-level consultations on defense

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- Korea and the U.S. will hold a high-level military meeting this week, which would mark the opening of another regular consultation channel between the allies, an official said Wednesday.

The inaugural session of the Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) is to open on Thursday in Washington.

Korea will be represented by Lim Kwan-bin, deputy defense minister for policy. His American counterpart will be James Miller, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy.

"The two-day meeting is to coordinate and control major alliance issues at a high level and discuss joint guidelines of Korea and the U.S.," a Korean defense official said.

The alliance issues include the U.S. nuclear umbrella, the ongoing relocation of U.S. troops in Korea, and cooperation on cyber-warfare, he said.

The defense ministers of the two sides agreed to launch KIDD at their annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) last year.

"Korea and the U.S. plan to have in-depth discussions on ways to cooperate on North Korea after its failed missile launch," he added.

Also on the agenda are preparations for the so-called two-plus-two talks among the defense and foreign ministers of the two nations in June, as well as this year's SCM in October, according to the official.