South Korea and the United States will resume a high-level deterrence dialogue next week after a hiatus of four years and eight months. 

Seoul’s defense and foreign ministries said on Thursday that the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group(EDSCG) will be held in Washington next Friday. 

The EDSCG, a gathering of their vice ministers of foreign affairs and defense, is a high-level consultative mechanism the allies created to discuss deterrence against North Korea. 

South Korea’s vice defense and foreign ministers, Shin Beom-chul and Cho Hyun-dong will join their U.S. counterparts Colin Kahl, under secretary of defense for policy, and Bonnie Denise Jenkins, under secretary of state for arms control and international security for the discussions. 

The Seoul government said that the two sides will hold in-depth discussions on comprehensive measures to deter North Korea, including ways to strengthen the effectiveness of extended deterrence in the face of the ramped up tensions on the Korean Peninsula. 

The EDSCG was launched in 2016, but suspended in 2018, when South Korea and the U.S. were making efforts to engage with North Korea diplomatically.

In May of this year, President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed during their May summit in Seoul to resume the dialogue.