By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Senior defense officials from South Korea and the United States met in Seoul, Wednesday, to discuss issues of mutual concern, including the agenda for the scheduled meeting of defense ministers of the two countries next month.
``The two sides exchanged views on a set of issues regarding the Korea-U.S. alliance. They were also trying to fine-tune the agenda for the Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) slated for next month in Washington, D.C.,'' an official of the Ministry of National Defense said.
The SCM is the annual defense ministerial talks between Seoul and Washington. This year's talks are scheduled from Oct. 16 to 17, according to the official.
Deputy Defense Minister for Policy Jeon Jei-guk represented South Korea at the 19th Security Policy Initiative (SPI), the regular working-level meeting on bilateral security issues, while U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense for East Asia David Sedney led the U.S. delegation.
During the one-day meeting, the two sides reviewed progress over the agreed transition of wartime operational control of Korean troops from the United States to South Korea and the relocation of U.S. bases to south of the Han River, the official said.
The two allies also discussed changes in the roles and missions of the U.S.-led United Nations Command in Seoul, in line with the transition of operational control slated for April 2012, he said.
Among other key topics are the defense cost-sharing for maintaining U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula and the sale of Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles, he added.
Seoul and Washington held two rounds of talks over the defense cost-sharing issue this year but failed to reach an agreement.
The U.S. government wants South Korea to pay an ``equitable amount'' of the money ― 50 percent ― needed to maintain some 28,500 U.S. troops here. Seoul currently pays about 42 percent of the cost to maintain the troop presence.