The U.S. State Department said on Monday that the United States has agreed to "positively consider" launching a new bilateral dialogue channel with South Korea to discuss alliance issues. 

A spokesperson of the department told Yonhap News that Seoul's Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun and U.S. Deputy Secretary Stephen Biegun agreed that both governments should continue to take steps to strengthen the alliance. 

The spokesperson said, to that end, Vice Minister Choi proposed a bilateral alliance dialogue, which Deputy Secretary Biegun agreed to positively consider.

Choi and Biegun held in-person talks last Thursday in Washington. 

After the meeting, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said the two sides agreed to establish the "Alliance Dialogue," a working-level consultation body between director-level officials from the two countries' foreign ministries. 

However, the State Department failed to mention the issue in a related press release, raising speculation that the allies have differences on the matter.