 |
| ▲ The air forces of South Korea, the United States and Japan stage joint aerial drills near Korea-Japan air defense identification zones in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula on Oct. 22, 2023, in this file photo provided by the U.S. Air Force. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
defense chiefs-trilateral meeting
Defense chiefs of S. Korea, U.S., Japan to hold meeting in Seoul this week: sources
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Yonhap) -- The defense ministers of South Korea, the United States and Japan are expected to hold a trilateral meeting in Seoul later this week, sources said Wednesday, amid efforts to strengthen their security cooperation against North Korea's missile and nuclear threats.
Consultations have been under way to arrange the tripartite talks in time for U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's visit to South Korea for the annual bilateral defense ministerial talks with his new South Korean counterpart, Shin Won-sik, slated for Monday, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter.
Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, who took office in September, is expected to join the session, which would mark the first stand-alone defense ministerial meeting of the three nations, they noted.
In June, the defense chiefs of the three nations held talks on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore to discuss North Korea.
The proposed meeting is expected to flesh out details of a real-time missile data sharing system to more effectively detect and assess North Korea's missile launches, amid speculation over Pyongyang's third attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit later this month.
At the Camp David summit in August, leaders of the three nations agreed to operationalize the information sharing system by the end of this year.
Among the topics likely to be discussed at the talks are the trilateral exercises as the U.S. and its Asian allies have been staging joint drills to enhance their coordinated capabilities.
Last month, the three nations jointly conducted their first aerial drills and a maritime interdiction exercise near the Korean Peninsula, the first of such in seven years.
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
