The top military officials of South Korea and the U.S. will hold bilateral talks in Seoul this weekend on North Korea and pending alliance issues, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.
Defense Minister Song Young-moo is scheduled to hold the 49th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) on Saturday, a day after the allies' Military Committee Meeting (MCM) here.
The MCM will be led by the heads of their joint chiefs of staff.
The two sides plan to have "in-depth" discussions on the North's threats and related policy coordination, as well as on ways to enhance "extended deterrence" and on the push for an early transfer of conditions-based operational control (OPCON) transition, according to the ministry.
The SCM and the MCM are the allies' top military consultation channels and are held every year. This week's session will be the first between the Moon Jae-in and Trump administrations.
Mattis is due to arrive in Seoul early Friday morning for his second trip to the country as Pentagon chief.
During his two-day stay here, the secretary plans to visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which separates the two Koreas, together with Song and issue a brief statement on the North, a ministry official said.
Speaking to reporters earlier Wednesday, Mattis stressed that the top priority is to resolve the North Korea issue diplomatically.
"Everyone is out for a peaceful resolution. No one's rushing for war," he said.
Mattis met with the South Korean defense minister in Clark, the Philippines, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus. They first had one-on-one talks at the Pentagon in late August. (Yonhap)