Youn Jong-kwon, left, the ministry's director-general for international security, and Stephen Klement, the EU's special envoy for non-proliferation and disarmament, pose for a photo during their meeting in Brussels, Belgium, in this photo provided by South Korea's foreign ministry, March 10. Yonhap

South Korea and the European Union have held the inaugural talks of their newly launched space security consultative body to jointly respond to space threats, the foreign ministry here said Tuesday.

Youn Jong-kwon, the ministry's director-general for international security, held the inaugural meeting of the Space Security Dialogue with Marjolijn Van Deelen, the EU's special envoy for space, in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday, according to the ministry.

The launch of the dialogue was agreed upon in November last year during a meeting between Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Josep Borrell, the EU's then high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, as part of efforts to jointly respond to emerging space threats.

During Monday's meeting, the two sides shared their assessments of space threats and agreed to cooperate on developing global regulations for space security and finding ways to implement bilateral cooperation on the issue.

The South Korean side, in particular, stressed the necessity of cooperating with the EU's like-minded members to cope with growing threats posed by North Korea in space.

On Monday, Youn also met with Stephen Klement, the EU's special envoy for non-proliferation and disarmament, for the 19th meeting of the bilateral consultative body on disarmament and non-proliferation.

During the meeting, the two sides shared the understanding that North Korea's continued nuclear weapons and missile development, as well as its military cooperation with Russia, poses grave threats to global peace and security.

They agreed to work together to encourage concerted international efforts to bring North Korea into compliance with United Nations Security Council resolutions, the ministry added. (Yonhap)