Japan, US, S. Korea defense chiefs meet to boost cooperation

TOKYO (Kyodo) — The defense chiefs of Japan, the United States and South Korea gathered for talks in Tokyo on Sunday, aiming to further boost cooperation through measures such as organizing joint exercises, as North Korea’s missile and nuclear development programs continue to threaten regional security.

China’s assertiveness in the East and South China seas and North Korea’s deepening military ties with Russia amid its war against Ukraine are also likely to be discussed, according to a Japanese Defense Ministry official.

Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara hosted U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won Sik for the second such trilateral meeting in less than two months. The previous one was held in Singapore in early June.

The gathering was planned as Austin and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken are visiting Tokyo for “two-plus-two” security talks involving their Japanese counterparts.

Cooperation among the United States and its two East Asian allies has been evolving rapidly, with the three countries in late June conducting a new annual joint military exercise dubbed “Freedom Edge,” spanning aerial, naval and cyber domains in areas including the East China Sea.

The training was launched based on an agreement by the three nations’ leaders during their summit at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David near Washington in August last year.

Among other three-way efforts to address the challenges posed by North Korea is a real-time information-sharing system for missiles launched by Pyongyang. The three governments fully activated the system in December.

Tokyo, Washington and Seoul have also been concerned about China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea, where tensions have risen amid clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels, while calling for peace and stability over Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island that Beijing sees as its own territory.

Chinese vessels have also repeatedly intruded into Japanese territorial waters around the Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.