Defense officials of South Korea and the United States have agreed to closely cooperate to enhance the efficiency of their deterrence strategies against North Korea. 

The agreement was announced in a joint statement issued on Friday after the two sides wrapped up the 18th Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue(KIDD) via videoconferencing. The first day of the two-day session took place on Wednesday. 

According to the statement, the two sides discussed various measures to enhance the effectiveness of the alliance’s deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. 

They also reaffirmed a joint goal of pursuing permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and agreed to closely cooperate in implementing related agreements, including the armistice agreement and September 19, 2018 agreements between the two Koreas. 

The allies also inspected developments regarding Seoul’s planned transfer of wartime operational control from the U.S. and assessed that the joint Combined Command Post Training(CCPT) held last month specified the conditions needed to verify the Full Operational Capability(FOC) test, which is essential in determining the South's readiness for the transfer. 

The two countries will hold their annual Security Consultative Meetings(SCM) next month to discuss follow-up measures to the agreements reached during the KIDD meetings among other issues.