S Korea, US to discuss follow-up measures of missile pact on N Korea

South Korea and the US will hold high-level defense talks next week that are expected to focus on how to strengthen their joint defense posture against North Korea under a new agreement on extending the range of the South's ballistic missiles, Yonhap News Agency reported Tuesday. South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and his counterpart Leon Panetta will meet in Washington on October 24 for the annual Security Consultative Meeting to discuss how to handle threats from North Korea and maintain a close alliance for stability in the region, the ministry said in a release carried by Yonhap. This year's meeting will focus on how to prepare a joint defense posture under the revised missile guideline announced earlier this month, which extended the range of Seoul's missiles from 500 kilometers to 800 km, according to the report. Pyongyang warned that the US mainland is within range of its missiles and said the recent agreement that allows Seoul to possess missiles capable of hitting all of North Korea shows the allies are plotting to invade the country. In April, the North unsuccessfully launched a long-range rocket, which the international community condemned as a disguised test of its missile technology banned under UN Security Council resolutions. South Korea and the US will also discuss ways to keep their joint defense posture intact even after Seoul retakes wartime operational control over its troops from the US in 2015. The two Koreas are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea to help deter North Korean aggression.