South Korea and the United States agreed to step up cooperation for stable supply chains of critical minerals and other economic security issues in their high-level economic talks, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday.

Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon and Jose W. Fernandez, the US undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, held their first in-person meeting in Toronto on Tuesday (local time) on the sidelines of an inaugural gathering for the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), according to the ministry.

The MSP is a Washington-led initiative aimed at ensuring stable supply chains for critical minerals used in advanced technologies, and South Korea is one of the partners, along with Canada, Australia, Japan and other European nations.

They agreed to bolster coordination for economic security issues and implementation of agreements reached during last month's bilateral summit, in which the allies vowed to enhance partnerships in such industries as semiconductors and batteries, it added. (Yonhap)