Senior officials and experts from around the world are in Seoul for a three-day forum that kicked off on Wednesday to promote peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.<br />Although the three-day event did get to a start yesterday, key sessions including the opening ceremony is set for later this morning.<br />Our Kim Jae-hee has the highlights from the vice ministerial-level meetings at the SDD 2019 on Wednesday.<br />South Korea's Vice Defense Minister Park Jae-min asked his counterparts from other countries for their support in building peace on the Peninsula.<br />This comes during the vice ministerial-level meetings... held between Park and his counterparts from Singapore, Uzbekistan, Philippines, Ethiopia, Canada and Kazakhstan... on the sidelines of the Seoul Defense Dialogue 2019.<br />The annual event kicked off on Wednesday at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul,... bringing together hundreds of military officials and defense experts from 56 countries and six international organizations.<br />Hosted by South Korea's defense ministry since 2012, the multilateral security forum serves as a platform to discuss peninsular affairs and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region.<br />The Commander of U.S. Forces Korea General Robert Abrams... and the Deputy Chief of Missions at the U.S. Embassy Rob Rapson... were also among this year's guest list.<br />This year's forum has drawn key focus,... coming at a time of high tensions in the region,... triggered by Seoul's recent decision to end its military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan,... and the stalled nuclear talks between North Korea and the U.S.<br />More discussions to enhance bilateral defense ties will follow over the next two days, with the official opening ceremony scheduled for 9 AM Korea Time Thursday.<br />Kim Jae-hee, Arirang News.<br />
