2 August 2024

US, Japan, South Korea sign pact amid ‘deteriorating’ regional security

PATRICK TUCKER

A first-ever gathering of defense chiefs from Japan, South Korea, and the United States here produced a trilateral security agreement, “grave concern” over increasing Russian-North Korean cooperation, and vague opposition to “unilateral attempts to change the status quo”—a reference to China and Taiwan.

Separately, the United States and Japan announced a new effort to co-develop and produce missiles and counterstrike capabilities.

“The defense ministers from our three countries have never met in the same room in either of your countries, but that changes today,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his counterparts as the meeting began here on Monday morning.

In a joint statement, the three countries said the new Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework would include “senior-level policy consultations, information sharing, trilateral exercises, and defense exchange cooperation, to contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, in the Indo-Pacific region, and beyond.”

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