The US And Japan Will Increase Military Cooperation With South Korea

ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH/Minku Kang

JAKARTA - The United States and Japan on Thursday agreed to step up trilateral military cooperation with South Korea to confront North Korea, following the launch of North Korea's failed military spy satellite.

As reported by ANTARA, Thursday, June 1, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada in Tokyo to discuss increasing military cooperation, according to Kyodo News reports.

Austin arrived in Tokyo on his visit to four countries: Japan, India, France, and Singapore.

The two Defense Ministers agreed to step up cooperation with South Korea and Australia and strengthen their prevention and response capabilities, including the ability to strike targets in enemy territory, according to the report.

"The US will take the necessary steps to protect the security of its country and its allied countries," Kyodo quoted Austin as saying in a joint press conference.

Hamada mengatakan bahwa Jepang dan AS tidak akan menolerir "upaya sepihak untuk mengubahstatus quo".

Japan and South Korea are close allies of the US in the region.

On Wednesday, North Korea launched a new type of satellite launcher "Chollima-1" rocket that crashed into the waters of the Korean Western Sea.

The US, Japan, and South Korea strongly criticized North Korea's launch and called it a gross violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

Responding to US-Japan military cooperation referring to the "Chinese forced", a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said it was not China's coercion, but US coercion.

"China has always believed that military cooperation must be conducive to regional peace and stability, and should not target third parties or harm third parties' interests," the Global Times quoted the spokesman as saying.