Korea, Us Defense Chiefs to Meet Monday

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo and U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter will meet in Seoul Monday to discuss nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, according to the Ministry of National Defense, Thursday.

The two defense chiefs will lead the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), in which defense and foreign affairs officials from the two countries will discuss ways to jointly cope with the North as well as follow-up measures for their decision last year to delay South Korea's takeover of wartime operational control (OPCON) of its troops from the U.S.

"The allies will discuss the North's test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile in May and its showcase of modified KN-08 missiles during a military parade in October to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party," a ministry official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.

During the parade, the repressive state displayed the KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) with round-shaped nose cones, presumed to be modified from the same kind of missile with a pointed cone displayed in the parade in 2013. This led to speculation that the North might be capable of building a nuclear weapon small enough to fit on its ICBMs.

The SCM is the allies'...