South Korea, Japan defense chiefs agree to put past behind them at Singapore meeting
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SINGAPORE -- South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik and Japan’s Minister of Defense Minoru Kihara agreed to look to the future in a bilateral meeting held at the Asia Security Summit or the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
At the meeting that lasted for about half an hour, the two ministers agreed to put the maritime row that had frustrated defense negotiations between the countries for the last five years, and pursue reconciliation.
In December 2018, Japan accused one of South Korean warships, tasked with locating a North Korean fishing boat in distress, of allegedly directing its radar system toward a Japanese patrol plane.
South Korea has denied that its navy destroyer tried to lock on to the Japanese military plane, while Japan has claimed the opposite.
In a joint release to the press, South Korean and Japanese defense ministries said they both recognized the incident could stall progress of their security cooperation, and adopt a more future-oriented approach.
The two sides decided on taking concrete steps to facilitate communication between South Korea’s Navy and Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, which would include bilateral exercises.
Speaking to members of the South Korean press, Shin said called the agreement reached with the Japanese minister on this day “an important breakthrough.”
“The mood for reconciliation was already ripe between the leaders of our countries, and on the defense front, we are able to catch up with what was shared at the trilateral summit Camp David last year,” he said.
Shin and Kihara are due to meet again at the South Korea-US-Japan defense ministerial summit set to take on Sunday.
By Kim Arin(arin@heraldcorp.com)
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