S. Korea, U.S. agree to further cooperate to achieve shared security goals for Korean Peninsula, Indo-Pacific

South Korea and the United States agreed to further cooperate to achieve shared security goals on the Korean Peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific during their key defense talks in Washington this week, Seoul’s defense ministry said Saturday.

The Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) took place on Thursday and Friday. It was the first KIDD meeting since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January.

The meeting was led by Cho Chang-rae, South Korea’s deputy defense minister for policy, and key U.S. officials — John Noh, who performs the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, and Andrew Winternitz, who performs the duties of the deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia.

The two sides assessed that the latest KIDD meeting laid a foundation for practical cooperation to further solidify the bilateral alliance, according to the ministry.

After the KIDD meeting, Cho had separate talks with U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby to discuss the results of the meeting and exchange views on ways to strengthen the alliance, the ministry said.

Seoul and Washington have held the KIDD meeting once or twice a year since it was launched in 2011 as a comprehensive senior-level defense meeting.