South Korea and the United States will hold their annual senior-level defense talks next week to discuss joint deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and alliance issues, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.
  

Yoo Jeh-seung, deputy minister for policy at the Ministry of National Defense, will lead South Korea's delegation to the Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue to be held in Seoul from Sept. 23-24, according to the ministry.
  

The U.S. will be represented by Abraham Denmark, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, and Elaine Bunn, deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy.
  

Main agenda items include the coordination of ways to deter and respond to the North's possible nuclear and missile provocations, it said.
  

Also high on agenda will be the agreed transfer of the wartime operational control of South Korean forces.
  

In November, the countries agreed to delay the U.S.-held wartime OPCON transfer to South Korea until the Northeast Asian country is capable of countering North Korean threats, with the mid-2020s tentatively set for the transition.
  

KIDD was launched in 2011 on top of the annual defense ministers' talks, the Security Consultative Meeting, aimed at discussing security and defense policies. (Yonhap)