Seoul, Tokyo set for 1st working-level defense talks in over 2 yrs

SEOUL, Aug. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Japan were to hold a working-level defense policy meeting Wednesday to discuss regional security and cooperation on the defense segment.

The 21st round of the working-level defense policy conference will be held at the Defense Ministry in Seoul later in the day, with the South Korean side headed by Yoon Soon-ku, the ministry's director general on international policy, and the Japanese side headed by his counterpart, Atsuo Suzuki, according to the ministry.

The meeting marks the resumption of the neighbors' working-level defense dialogue channel for the first time since the 20th round was held in Tokyo in March 2013.

It was suspended last year due to worsening diplomatic ties over unresolved history-related feuds.

Agenda items include regional security, defense policies of the two countries and cooperation on issues of mutual interest.

The officials may delve into Japan's moves to reconfigure its national security laws and other rearmament steps in recent years.

South Korea may use the venue to raise its long-held opinion that Japan's recovery of its collective self-defense right should not affect issues pertaining to the Korean Peninsula unless South Korea makes a request.

The Japanese side, meanwhile, is expected to suggest the signing of two military agreements -- the General Security of Military Information Agreement and the Cross-Servicing Agreement -- during the session, but South Korea has ruled out the possibility.

pbr@yna.co.kr
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