South Korea and the United States have held their first talks to discuss the issue of growing space debris and ways to beef up cooperation, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Friday.

At the so-called space policy dialogue held in Washington Thursday, officials from Seoul and Washington exchanged views on how to cooperate with each other on the peaceful use of outer space, it said.

Space debris refers to an array of now-defunct objects flying in universe such as spent satellites and used rocket parts that could collide with operating satellites or spacecraft. A South Korean satellite barely avoided a possible collision with space debris earlier this month.

The foreign ministry said that the two sides shared the view about serious risks posed by growing space waste and discussed how to respond to the issue.

The meeting was a follow-up to the Seoul-Washington summit held in April and November last year. The two countries are on course to strengthen their partnership and cooperation in a variety of global issues.

Seoul and Washington agreed to hold the second space policy dialogue in 2016, it added. (Yonhap)