US, Japan and South Korea formalize their defense partnership

Jul 28. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The governments of the United States, Japan and South Korea signed an agreement on joint military training in Tokyo on Sunday, in an effort to consolidate security cooperation and counter threats from North Korea and China in the Indo-Pacific.

“These are unprecedented steps for our trilateral security partnership,” said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is leading the delegation from Washington and whose aim is to consolidate these advances before the United States elects its next president in November.

In addition to Austin, the talks in the Japanese capital will include Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and his South Korean counterpart, the first official visit by a representative of that country in 15 years.

“We will continue to contribute to regional peace and stability by pursuing our efforts to strengthen trilateral cooperation on the basis of this agreement,” the Japanese defense minister said in statements reported by the Bloomberg news agency.

The agreement, which includes plans for regular military training between the three countries, seeks to join forces against North Korean and Chinese activities in the Indo-Pacific, “enhance high-level security consultations and share real-time data on North Korean missile launches.”

According to the Japanese daily Yomiuri, cited by the agency, the talks are expected to produce a document on “extended deterrence,” which sets out “how U.S. military resources, including nuclear weapons, can deter threats to Japan and the scenarios in which they could be used.”

China’s military rise, North Korea’s missile development and Russia’s belligerence have created “one of the most challenging security environments in East Asia in recent decades,” fostering rapprochement between the United States, South Korea and Japan as they “seek to put aside their long-standing diplomatic disputes.”

Japan is scheduled to host a meeting of foreign ministers on July 29 of the so-called QUAD group, which includes Japan as well as Australia, India and the United States, which has already expressed its desire to guarantee an Indo-Pacific region “free from coercion and intimidation” by the Asian giant.