South Korea, U.S. and Japan launch trilateral system to share North Korean missile launch info

South Korea, the United States and Japan on Tuesday launched a system to share real-time information on North Korean missile launches in what Seoul's Defense Ministry characterized as another step to deepen trilateral defense cooperation.

The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, center, leads a group of South Korean, U.S. and Japanese destroyers for a trilateral exercise south of Jeju Island on Nov. 26. On the left of the USS Carl Vinson is the USS Kidd and the JS Kirisame, while on the right is the ROKS Sejong the Great and the USS Sterett. [U.S. NAVY]

South Korea, the United States and Japan on Tuesday launched a system to share real-time information on North Korean missile launches in what Seoul's Defense Ministry characterized as another step to deepen trilateral defense cooperation.

The three countries also established a multiyear plan to hold joint military drills, following an agreement by their defense ministers during a trilateral meeting in November.

In its news release, the South Korean Defense Ministry said the three countries established the system “to detect and evaluate missiles launched by North Korea in real time to ensure the safety of their citizens and enhance related capabilities.”

The system’s launch came a day after North Korea fired what it claimed was a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

In comments carried by Pyongyang’s state-controlled media on Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said the latest launch demonstrated what actions the North might take if the United States “makes a wrong decision.”

The solid-fuel Hwasong-18 is the fifth ICBM fired by the regime this past year.

While Seoul’s Defense Ministry did not specify what kind of data would be shared among the three countries, Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said in a media interview Monday that the information would include the missile’s estimated launch location, trajectory, and expected target.

While the United States already had military data-sharing systems with South Korea and Japan, the two neighbors have not had direct links due to lingering tensions over Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.

The Defense Ministry also said the three countries have approved a multiyear exercise plan, under which trilateral military drills are due to be held more regularly.

The ministry heralded the launch of the threeway data-sharing system as opening “a new era of South Korea-U.S.-Japan security cooperation,” adding that the three countries will “continue to strengthen trilateral cooperation to respond to regional challenges and ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Korean Peninsula, and beyond.”

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida first announced their countries’ intent to share real-time missile warning information in a joint statement after their summit in Phnom Penh in November last year.

Meanwhile, national security officials from Seoul, Washington and Tokyo discussed information on Pyongyang’s cryptocurrency heists during a virtual meeting on Tuesday, according to the South Korean presidential office.

The virtual meeting was attended by In Seong-hwan, South Korea’s deputy national security adviser; Anne Neuberger, the U.S. deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies; and Keiichi Ichikawa, deputy head of Japan's National Security Secretariat.

In its news release, the presidential office said the officials shared information on Pyongyang’s illicit cyber activities, such as cryptocurrency theft and fund-raising by IT workers, which bankroll its nuclear and missile programs.

The officials also agreed to work closely together to stem the North’s cyber activities in the future, according to the presidential office.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]