Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

On September 20th, Republic of Korea, the United States and Japan held a videoconference, which Korea attended via a link at the headquarters of the Defense Ministry. During the meeting, the parties discussed new approaches to sharing information and joint countermeasures against North Korea's ballistic missiles, which it most recently launched on September 15th.

The meeting was attended by the ROK Ministry of Defense’s Deputy Director General for International Policy Park Cheol-kyun, the US Department of Defense’s Acting Principal Director for East Asian Affairs Andrew Winternitz, and the Japanese Ministry of Defense’s Director for Defense Policy Yamato Taro.

The three delegates strongly condemned the North Korean ballistic missile launch as a provocation that violated a number of Security Council resolutions, including UN Security Council Resolution 2375 adopted on November 11th. They also unanimously agreed that it was a very serious and grave threat to regional peace and stability, which can never be tolerated.

In addition, the three delegates agreed to continue to pursue closer ties in the area of trilateral security cooperation to effectively suppress and respond to the North Korean threat. They also agreed to strengthen cooperation with the international community in order to halt the North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile development program and to prevent further provocations. At the same time, the United States reaffirmed its ironclad security commitment to the Republic of Korea and Japan.

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By Yeong-Sun, Lee < ys119@dema.mil.kr >