Japan, South Korea agree to enhance defense ties

By Berk Kutay Gokmen

ISTANBUL (AA) - Japan and South Korea on Monday agreed to enhance their bilateral defense relations and cooperation in the fields of advanced technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and space.

The agreement came after South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu Back hosted his Japanese counterpart Gen. Nakatani in Seoul, where the two defense chiefs vowed to strengthen ties regardless of changes in their governments, according to the Kyodo news agency.

Nakatani, the first Japanese defense minister to visit South Korea in a decade, stressed the importance of bilateral security cooperation as well as trilateral cooperation with the US.

"The ministers concurred that it is important to steadily advance Korea-Japan and Korea-US-Japan defense cooperation in the rapidly changing security environment, and shared the need to develop bilateral defense ties in a future-oriented manner," the two ministers said in a joint statement.

The two nations will explore the potential for "mutually beneficial and forward-looking cooperation in advanced science and technology fields such as artificial intelligence, unmanned systems, and space," the statement added.

The meeting came a day after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced his resignation.

Nakatani and Ahn vowed "unwavering commitment" to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and agreed to continue trilateral cooperation with the US in response to North Korea's weapons development program and Pyongyang’s deepening military cooperation with Moscow.

The visit came during the 60th anniversary year of the normalization of Japan-South Korea relations. The two heads of defense previously held a videoconference in early August.

Nakatani is expected to attend the Seoul Defense Dialogue, an annual multilateral security forum, on Tuesday before returning to Japan on Wednesday.