An annual meeting of Asia-Pacific military leaders will be held in South Korea next week to debate how to forge multilateral military cooperation in the region, officials said Wednesday.
The Chiefs of Defense conference, scheduled from Monday to Oct. 22 in Seoul, will bring together dozens of senior defense officials from 27 countries, including the United States, Japan, Russia and India, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.
Coordinating ways to improve civilian-military cooperation at international peacekeeping missions and global collaboration on maritime security are among the topics on the agenda for the five-day meeting, the JCS said.
Discussions on mutual security challenges and security cooperation are also scheduled for the conference, it said.
"Throughout the meeting, South Korea aims to build high-level military dialogue channels with Asia-Pacific partners," Brig. Gen. Cho Young-sam of the JCS told reporters.
It is the first time for South Korea to host the conference, the 13th of its kind since 1998, Cho said.