South Korea and Japan convened their first "two-plus-two" security talks at the vice-ministerial level in Seoul on Thursday, bringing together senior foreign and defence officials from both countries to discuss ways to deepen bilateral and trilateral cooperation with the United States. The talks — a step up from the previous director-general level format — addressed security challenges including North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile programmes, the broader Asia-Pacific security environment, and the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. The bilateral security consultation mechanism, launched in 1998, has fluctuated with the state of relations between the two neighbours, and the upgrade in format comes amid renewed diplomatic engagement, including reported plans for a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung later this month.