South Korea and Japan Defense Ministers: "Trilateral Cooperation with the U.S. to Continue Against North Korean Nuclear Threats... Joint Response to North Korea-Russia Military Ties"

Agreed to Strengthen Cooperation in Advanced Technology Fields

The defense ministers of South Korea and Japan met on September 8 and reaffirmed their firm commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In addition, they agreed to continue trilateral cooperation with the United States in response to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, and to jointly address the deepening military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

Minister Ahn Kyubaek and Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani held a South Korea-Japan defense ministers' meeting at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul on the occasion of the Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) and announced these agreements through a joint press statement. This marks the first visit by a Japanese defense minister to South Korea in 10 years, since 2015.

The two ministers welcomed the fact that the Japanese defense minister's visit took place in the 60th anniversary year of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries. They also recalled the South Korea-Japan summit held on August 23, where the two countries agreed to strengthen strategic communication amid changes in the regional strategic environment, and agreed to enhance communication between their respective defense authorities as well.

To this end, the two ministers agreed on the need to further invigorate regular consultations and personnel exchanges between their defense authorities, including mutual visits and defense ministers' meetings. As part of these exchanges, both ministers welcomed the participation of the South Korean military band in the Japan Self-Defense Forces music festival scheduled for November this year.

The two ministers also agreed on the importance of maintaining stable South Korea-Japan and South Korea-United States-Japan cooperation amid the rapidly changing security environment. In particular, they recognized the need to develop bilateral defense cooperation in a future-oriented manner. They also agreed to explore mutually beneficial and forward-looking cooperation opportunities in advanced scientific and technological fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), unmanned systems, and space.