South Korea-U.S. missile talks open Monday

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed on Sunday that South Korea and the U.S. would hold official talks on Oct. 16 on increasing the range of missiles in the South Korean arsenal.

As both sides have already agreed on "missile development to meet the need for South Korean security," once the talks formalize the agreement, South Korea will be able to develop, produce and deploy missiles with a 300-km range and with a warhead capacity of 500 kilograms. Seoul will also be able to develop missiles with greater capabilities purely for research purposes.

The Head of the North American Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Song Min-Soon, and the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation, Robert Einhorn, will meet for the talks. A source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "Through various informal meetings, the two sides have neared an agreement on various levels. However, there are some sensitive technical issues which may hamper a full agreement."

Boo Hyung-Kwon bookum90@donga.com