Defense officials of South Korea, US meet for technological cooperation

President Moon Jae-in, left in front, visits a defense equipment exhibition featuring the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, Sept. 14, 2018. Korea Times file

By Jung Da-min

Defense officials and researchers from South Korea and the U.S. are in talks to promote cooperation on defense technologies.

About 250 officials from Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and the U.S. Department of Defense participated in the annual technological cooperation sub-committee (TCSC) that kicked off Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency Jeju. The meeting will go on until Thursday, according to the DAPA, Wednesday.

The TSCS is being held as part of the Defense Technology and Industrial Cooperation Committee (DTICC).

The DTICC is one of five subcommittees for the Republic of Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), an annual ministerial dialogue held alternately in Seoul and Washington. The previous SCM was held last October in Washington, D.C.

The agenda for the three-day TCSC this week includes technical cooperation between the two allies focusing on Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as artificial intelligence-enabled autonomous systems.