SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Yonhap) – South Korea's Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho held talks with the Netherlands' top defense official this week to bolster security and arms industry ties, Seoul's defense ministry said Thursday.

Kim met Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren in The Hague on Tuesday (local time) as President Yoon Suk Yeol is on a four-day state visit to the country from Monday.

During the talks, the two sides agreed to begin working-level talks at an early date for South Korea's planned participation as an observer in a missile defense exercise in 2025 jointly led by Dutch and German troops, the ministry said.

On Wednesday, Yoon and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte adopted a joint statement that outlined a series of bilateral cooperation efforts, including Seoul's participation in the Joint Project Optic Windmill 2025 exercise as an observer.

The two defense officials agreed to continue to expand defense cooperation, while noting the potential in bilateral arms industry cooperation based on artificial intelligence and other defense technologies, according to the ministry.

They agreed on the need to swiftly set up a joint committee on defense logistics as outlined in a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU) revised in June on defense logistics cooperation.

The talks took place a day before South Korea and the Netherlands signed an MOU on overall defense cooperation.

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