South Korea and 17 member states of the U.S.-led United Nations Command(UNC) will hold a defense ministers’ meeting in Seoul on Tuesday.

Defense ministers and representatives of the countries will hold the first such meeting at the defense ministry building in the morning, with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin set to deliver a keynote speech.

The meeting will assess the roles and contributions of the UNC over the past 70 years and urge North Korea to stop its illegal activities and abide by UN Security Council resolutions.

The participant countries will also adopt a joint declaration calling for collective responses in case of contingencies on the Korean Peninsula.

Seoul’s defense ministry said that the gathering is the first meeting to bring together the defense ministers and representatives of South Korea and UNC member states to explore the role of the UNC in deterring war and maintaining peace on the peninsula as well as seek cooperation between Seoul and the command’s members.

The UNC was established in July 1950 under a UN mandate to support South Korea against North Korea's aggression.