President Lee Myung-bak plans to preside over a new monthly meeting of top government officials in charge of foreign affairs and national security, Lee's office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday.
The move comes as the Lee administration views national security and economy as the "two important pillars in state affairs" this year. South Korean officials are concerned about the possibility of additional North Korean military provocations, but Lee has left the door open for inter-Korean dialogue and called for efforts to revive the six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons drive.
"(President Lee) has decided to hold a diplomacy and security review meeting regularly once a month," Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung said in a press briefing.
She said the first session will be held at an early date after related preparations are completed. Kim did not provide the list of participants in the meeting, but sources said they will include the foreign minister, the unification minister and the defense minister as well as senior presidential aides dealing with diplomatic and security policies.
The spokeswoman said the president will also launch a separate monthly meeting on his "fair society" campaign.
Lee plans to convene the economic policy meeting twice a month, she added.