SEOUL, Defense Minister Shin Won-sik met with the chair of the German parliament's defense committee Tuesday to discuss regional security issues and ways to strengthen defense cooperation, his ministry said. Shin held the talks with Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann at his office in central Seoul, marking the first time a chair of the Bundestag committee has visited South Korea, according to the ministry. The two sides emphasized that it was an important period for cooperation in the international community, citing the war in Ukraine, military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, and the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas, the ministry said. They also shared the view that the security of the Indo-Pacific and the Atlantic are closely connected, and agreed to develop bilateral defense cooperation and continue close communication on major security issues, it said. Source: Yonhap News Agency