SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo planned to visit Washington later this month for talks with his U.S. counterpart Jim Mattis, Seoul's defense ministry said Friday.
Song was scheduled to visit the United States from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2 to hold a bilateral meeting with the Pentagon head on Aug. 30.
The bilateral meeting would be held at the request of South Korea to discuss countermeasures against rising nuclear and missile threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to Yonhap news agency.
Possibly on the dialogue agenda would be the transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean troops from Washington to Seoul, the revision of the guideline on the U.S.-South Korea missile development and the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile interception system, according to Yonhap.
A defense ministry official was quoted as saying that nothing has been decided yet on the dialogue agenda.
Tensions de-escalated on the Korean Peninsula as Pyongyang and Washington stopped the war of words following the DPRK's tests in July of what it called an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
In response to the missile provocations by the DPRK, South Korea called on the U.S. to amend the bilateral missile development guideline to increase the range and warhead of South Korea's indigenous ballistic missiles.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in also ordered the additional deployment of four more THAAD launchers to the THAAD site in southeast South Korea.
On April 26, two mobile launchers and other THAAD elements were transported in the middle of night to a former golf course in Seongju county, North Gyeongsang province.
It sparked strong oppositions from the peace activists and residents, who have continued their candlelit rallies every night since the deployment decision was announced in July last year.
Neighboring countries, including China and Russia, have strongly opposed the THAAD deployment in South Korea as it breaks strategic balance in the region and damages the security interests of the two countries.
