Japanese Defense Minister Coordinating Visit to Korea Next Month... First in 9 Years if Confirmed

Japanese Defense Minister Nakatani Gen is reportedly coordinating plans to visit South Korea as early as late December to hold talks with South Korean Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, Kyodo News reported on the 18th. He has expressed his intention to visit South Korea several times since taking office.

Yonhap News

If the visit by the Japanese Defense Minister takes place, it will be the first in nine years since 2015. The Defense Minister who visited South Korea in 2015 was also Nakatani.

Kyodo News reported that if the defense ministers of the two countries hold talks during his visit, they are expected to reaffirm the importance of cooperation between South Korea and Japan, as well as trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States, and Japan, ahead of the inauguration of then President-elect Donald Trump. They are also expected to discuss North Korea’s missile launches and North Korea-Russia military cooperation.

Earlier, shortly after taking office, on the 2nd of last month, Defense Minister Nakatani attended an event hosted by the South Korean Embassy in Japan and stated, "I intend to visit South Korea as soon as possible." At that time, he cited the rapid progress in South Korea-Japan defense cooperation and the early June defense ministerial talks between the two countries, where they agreed on measures to prevent the recurrence of the 'patrol aircraft conflict,' as examples.

On the 7th of this month, Defense Minister Nakatani attended a welcoming ceremony for the arrival of a South Korean naval training squadron at the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, boarded a South Korean naval vessel, and interacted with the crew members.