South Korea and China agreed on Tuesday to establish a high-level hotline between their defence chiefs in an effort to strengthen military cooperation, officials in Seoul said.

The agreement reached at military talks in Beijing comes after the two countries established telephone hotlines in 2008 between their navies and air forces to help prevent accidental clashes.

"Technically it will be used as a direct telephone line between the defence chiefs of the two nations," a South Korean defence ministry spokesman told AFP, without elaborating on when it will be set up.

At the talks, Seoul called for China -- Pyongyang's sole major ally -- to play a "constructive" role for peace on the Korean peninsula, saying the North's "military adventurism and provocations" had heightened tensions, the ministry said.

The announcement came as cross-border tensions remain high after the North's failed rocket launch in April, seen by the United States and its allies as an attempted ballistic missile test.