S. Korea holds defense talks with Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, Kenya to boost cooperation

Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Thursday held separate talks with a senior defense official from Saudi Arabia and his counterparts from Rwanda and Kenya to discuss ways to expand cooperation, his office said. Kim met with Khaled bin Hussein Al-Biyari, Saudi Arabia's assistant minister of defense for executive affairs, on the margins of the Seoul Defense Dialogue security conference, according to the ministry. During the talks, Kim called for strengthening bilateral defense cooperation, the ministry said, and their offices agreed to expand cooperation in ground, maritime and aerospace arms industry projects. Kim also met Rwandan Defense Minister Juvenal Marizamunda to discuss ways to cooperate in the defense and arms industry sectors. He also held talks with his Kenyan counterpart, Roselinda Soipan Tuya, which marked the first defense ministerial meeting between the two countries since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1964. The two ministers shared the view on bolstering bilateral defense indust ry and logistics cooperation, Kim's office said. Source: Yonhap News Agency