Top defense officials from the United States and South Korea will meet in Washington next week to discuss North Korea and other alliance issues ahead of the two countries’ upcoming presidential summit later this month, Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense said on Friday.

According to the defense ministry, U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific affairs David Helvey will meet with South Korean Deputy Minister of Defense Kim Man-Ki on May 12 and May 13. Their meeting, referred to as the Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD), generally takes place twice a year.