Japan, the US and South Korea will launch a system to share information on North Korean missiles

Japan, the United States and South Korea agreed on Saturday to launch a system that will allow real-time sharing of information about North Korean missiles by the end of this year, amid repeated ballistic missile tests by Pyongyang, Kyodo News reported.

In a joint statement issued after their talks on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit in Singapore, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and his US and South Korean counterparts Lloyd Austin and Lee Jong Sup said they will “keep moving forward” to that the new system will be operational “in the coming months.”

The first talks between the defense ministers of the three countries since June last year took place on the sidelines of the three-day summit in the Southeast Asian city-state, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, which began on Friday.

The planned information-sharing system will allow the three nations to detect and track projectiles fired by the North more accurately and quickly, and will be “an important step for deterrence, peace and stability,” according to the statement.

The ministers also pledged to regularly conduct tripartite anti-missile defense exercises, along with anti-submarine exercises, in response to North Korean actions, as well as to act as a deterrent.

Japan and South Korea will share information in real time through the United States, as the two US security allies in East Asia do not have a direct communication mechanism in place.

Washington has a system connected to Tokyo and Seoul individually to track Pyongyang’s missiles from launch to impact.

The planned framework will “enhance each country’s ability to detect and assess the threat from North Korean missiles,” Hamada told reporters after the trilateral meeting, adding that details are still being finalized.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol agreed at a meeting in Cambodia last November to share real-time North Korean missile alert data.

Their defense chiefs held talks after the launch of a North Korean military reconnaissance satellite failed on Wednesday, with the three countries saying the operation would likely have used ballistic missile technology, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. .

The North Korean state news agency Korean Central News Agency said that “serious defects” appeared after the launch in a motor of the rocket carrying the satellite, and admitted that it flew abnormally.

With Pyongyang vowing to make another attempt “as soon as possible,” and not yet ending its pre-declared launch window of May 31-June 11, Tokyo, Washington, and Seoul remain on their guard for possible new launches.

Japan and the United States promise to improve their attack capabilities in the face of the North Korean threat

During the talks, Austin reaffirmed his country’s “firm partnership commitments” with Japan and South Korea, which are “supported by the full range of US capabilities, including nuclear,” according to the statement.

The first talks between the defense ministers of the three countries since June last year took place on the sidelines of the three-day summit in the Southeast Asian city-state, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, which began on Friday.

North Korea has conducted frequent missile tests since early last year, and fears persist that it may be preparing to carry out its seventh nuclear test, its first since September 2017.

The three nations have been stepping up their security cooperation in the context of a recent rapprochement between Japan and South Korea after Yoon took office in May last year.

In addition to North Korea, the three defense ministers reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, where China’s military activities have intensified, and expressed firm opposition to any unilateral attempt to alter the status quo, by force or coercion.

Also on Saturday, Hamada and Austin held a separate trilateral meeting with their Australian counterpart Richard Marles in Singapore, pledging to increase the number of joint exercises conducted by their forces as well as expand their activities, according to a joint statement.