The defense chiefs from South Korea and the United States began their annual security talks Thursday morning as the two allies sought to temper North Korea's aspirations to expand its nuclear and missile capabilities.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young met with his U.S. counterpart Robert Gates at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul and held more than two hours of talks, part of which were attended by the highest-ranking commanders of their countries, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The 41st Security Consultative Meeting comes as North Korea appears increasingly willing to engage in dialogue with the outside world even though it shows no sign of backing down on its nuclear and missile programs.
The communist country conducted its second underground atomic bomb test in May and resumed testing its missiles earlier this month for the first time in three months.
Secretary Gates said Wednesday in a speech to a select group of U.S. and South Korean soldiers that his country would "never accept a North Korea with nuclear weapons."
The U.S. is now maintaining 28,500 troops in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty, a major deterrent against North Korea.
"Ironically, even as the capability of their ground forces continues to degrade, their missile development and nuclear programs are increasingly dangerous," he said, referring to the North.
In the Military Committee Meeting hours earlier, South Korean Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Lee Sang-eui and his U.S. counterpart Adm. Michael Mullen shared their latest intelligence on North Korea's military capabilities and discussed combined measures to deal with the communist state's threats.
"The U.S. is committed to providing the extended deterrence using the full range of American military might _ from the nuclear umbrella to conventional strike and missile defense capabilities," Gates said.
The annual meetings come ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's trip to South Korea for a summit in mid-November as part of his four-nation Asian trip.
South Korean media have speculated for weeks that Gates' Seoul visit is aimed at paving the ground for the U.S. to ask South Korea to increase its military contributions to fighting insurgents in Afghanistan, possibly including the deployment of combat troops.