JAKARTA - Japan, the United States, and South Korea on Saturday agreed to launch an actual real-time system of information sharing information about North Korean missiles at the end of the year, amid Pyongyang's repeated ballistic missile tests.
In a joint statement issued following their talks on the sidelines of a high-level Asian Security Summit (Asia Security Summit) in Singapore, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada, Defense Minister Lloyd Austin, and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong Sup, said they would "make further progress" making the new system operational "for the next few months."
The first talks between the three countries' defense ministers since June last year took place on the sidelines of the three-day summit in the Southeast Asian states, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, which began on Friday, June 2.
The planned information-sharing system will allow the three countries to detect and track projectiles fired by North Korea more accurately and quickly, and will be "a major step for prevention, peace, and stability," the statement said.
The ministers also pledged to hold three-way missile defense exercises, in addition to anti-submarine exercises, regularly in response to North Korea's actions, and act as a precaution.
Japan and South Korea will actually share information through the United States, as two US security allies in East Asia do not have a direct communication mechanism.
Washington has systems connected to Tokyo and Seoul individually to track Pyongyang missiles from launch time to impact.
The framework considered "will increase the ability of each country to detect and assess North Korean missile threats," Hamada told reporters after a trilateral meeting. Hamada explained. details related to this are being worked on.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden, and South Korean President Yoon suk Yeol agreed at a meeting in Cambodia in November last year to be able to share North Korean missile warning data in real detail.
The countries held talks after the launch of North Korea's military reconnaissance satellite failed on Wednesday.
The three countries said the operation was likely to use ballistic missile technology, which violates UN Security Council resolutions.
As reported by ANTARA, Saturday, June 3, North Korea's official news agency, KCNA, said "serious defects" appeared on rocket engines carrying satellites after launch, admitting that the rocket was flying abnormally.
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Pyongyang has pledged to make other efforts "as soon as possible," and the previously announced launch from May 31 to June 11 has not been declared over, keeping Tokyo, Washington and Seoul wary of possible further launches.
During the talks, Austin reiterated his country's "firm alliance commitments" to Japan and South Korea, which "supported by various US capabilities, including nuclear", according to the statement.
Since the beginning of last year, North Korea has been conducting frequent missile tests, with remaining concerns that North Korea is preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear test run, the first since September 2017.
The three countries have stepped up their security cooperation against the recent backdrop of relations between Japan and South Korea after Yoon took office in May last year.
Apart from North Korea, three Defense Ministers reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, where China's military activities are increasingly intensive, and expressed their strong rejection of any unilateral attempt to change the status quo through violence or coercion.
On Saturday a trilateral meeting was also held between Hamada and Austin with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles in Singapore, to increase the number of joint exercises carried out by their troops, as well as expand their activities, according to a joint statement.
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