The defense ministers of South Korea, the United States, and Japan gathered together and promised security cooperation, but the defense ministers of South Korea and Japan did not hold a meeting.



The Japanese side showed that the three countries showed solidarity amid the progress of North Korea's nuclear and missile development and the destabilization of the international situation, but an analysis showed that the distrust between the defense authorities of South Korea and Japan had not been resolved.



On the occasion of the Asian Security Conference (Shangri-La Dialogue) held in Singapore, a trilateral defense ministers meeting was held on the 11th, attended by South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi.



Regarding the completion of the Korea, US and Japan defense ministers meeting two years and seven months after the ASEAN Extended Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM-Plus) meeting in November 2019, the Asahi Shimbun said, "Talking about North Korea's response to the increasing threat of nuclear and missile development, etc. 3 They showed off national solidarity."



The meeting was held while the US Joe Biden administration, which was faced with several tasks, such as intensifying the US-China conflict and responding to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, placed particular importance on trilateral cooperation in relation to the North Korean issue.



However, this time the defense ministers meeting between Korea and Japan did not take place, and it is analyzed that there is still a deep rift between the two countries.



Asahi diagnosed that there was no official meeting between the two countries and that "the clock for improving relations cannot be said to have cleared."



Regarding the reason why the Korea-Japan defense ministers' meeting was not held, Defense Minister Kishi told reporters on the 11th that "I am aware of the importance of communication, but I will make a timely and appropriate judgment on the specific meeting."



At the beginning of the trilateral talks, which were revealed to the media, Defense Minister Kishi smiled when Austin spoke to him, but did not even make eye contact with South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.



It is known that the United States played a major role in the success of the Korea-U.S.-Japan meeting.



In a joint press release released after the Korea-U.S.-Japan defense ministers meeting, policies such as trilateral missile warning drills were described.



Yomiuri analyzed that it would take time to resolve the historical issue that is the cause of friction between South Korea and Japan, and thus hastened practical cooperation in the response to North Korea, which is easy for the two countries to cooperate.



(Photo = Yonhap News)