South Korea and the U.S. hold annual security consultation...Discussion of pending issues such as dispatch of troops to North Korea

The Ministry of National Defense said that the defense authorities of South Korea and the U.S. will hold the 56th Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting, SCM, in Washington, D.C. on the 30th local time.

The SCM is a major military policy consultation and coordination body conducted annually by the defense authorities of allies South Korea and the United States between Seoul and Washington, with Defense Secretary Kim Yong-hyun on the Korean side and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the U.S. side.

The SCM will focus on all-in-one extended deterrence against North Korea's nuclear threat, military policies related to the Korea-U.S. alliance, and the transfer of wartime operational control.

In the meantime, Secretary Kim Yong-hyun, who is visiting the U.S., visited the U.S. Navy's Marine System Command, which is studying manned/unmanned complex systems such as unmanned watercraft, to be briefed on the development status and discuss ways to cooperate in defense science and technology between South Korea and the U.S.

South Korea and the U.S. will hold the 6th Korea-U.S. Foreign Affairs and Defense (2+2) Ministerial Meeting on the 31st, the day after SCM, in three years.