SEOUL, May 7 (AJP) - South Korean and Japanese foreign and defense officials met in Seoul on Thursday to discuss ways to strengthen security cooperation.
In the format of their first "2+2" vice ministerial meeting, South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo and Vice Defense Minister Lee Doo-hee met with their respective counterparts Takehiro Funakoshi and Koji Kano.
Thursday's meeting, which came after the previous one in Tokyo in November 2024, was upgraded to vice ministerial level this time.
Such talks, held at the working level under a 1997 agreement between the two neighboring countries, have been suspended and resumed at times as bilateral ties have fluctuated.
With detailed discussions yet to be disclosed, the two sides were believed to have exchanged views on key security issues including North Korea's nuclear threat and the prolonged conflict in the Middle East. With both countries importing large amounts of energy from the region, they were also likely to explore cooperation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and bolster energy security.
In the format of their first "2+2" vice ministerial meeting, South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo and Vice Defense Minister Lee Doo-hee met with their respective counterparts Takehiro Funakoshi and Koji Kano.
Thursday's meeting, which came after the previous one in Tokyo in November 2024, was upgraded to vice ministerial level this time.
Such talks, held at the working level under a 1997 agreement between the two neighboring countries, have been suspended and resumed at times as bilateral ties have fluctuated.
With detailed discussions yet to be disclosed, the two sides were believed to have exchanged views on key security issues including North Korea's nuclear threat and the prolonged conflict in the Middle East. With both countries importing large amounts of energy from the region, they were also likely to explore cooperation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and bolster energy security.
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