Senior government officials of South Korea and the United States had talks here Tuesday on North Korea and pending alliance issues, two weeks after their presidents agreed during a Seoul summit to upgrade Seoul-Washington ties to a "Global Comprehensive Strategic Alliance."

The meeting between Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman came a couple of days after the North fired eight short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) into the East Sea. It marked their first face-to-face consultations since the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

The two plan to meet again in Seoul on Wednesday in a trilateral session involving their Japanese counterpart Takeo Mori. The previous gathering of the regional powers' No. 2 diplomats took place in Washington, D.C., in November last year. (Yonhap)