Seoul - In a significant meeting on Friday, the national security advisers of South Korea and Japan concurred on the necessity of bolstering international solidarity to address North Korea's escalating nuclear and missile provocations.
According to Yonhap News Agency, National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong and Japan's National Security Secretariat Secretary General Takeo Akiba engaged in discussions in Seoul, preceding a trilateral meeting with their U.S. counterpart, Jake Sullivan.
The two sides recognized North Korea's recent actions as unprecedented provocations posing a grave threat to regional and global peace and stability. They emphasized the importance of cooperation between South Korea and Japan, as well as among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, to form a unified international response to North Korea's challenges.
North Korea's recent success in placing a military spy satellite into orbit, following two earlier failed attempts this year, was a focal point of their discussions. Cho and Akiba also delved into bilateral relations, acknowledging the progress made through seven summits between their leaders this year. They agreed to expand cooperation across various domains, including security, economic issues, and people-to-people exchanges, to yield more tangible benefits for both nations.
In a subsequent meeting with U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Cho shared views on South Korea's decision to suspend parts of the 2018 Comprehensive Military Agreement with North Korea. This suspension was a response to Pyongyang's repeated breaches of United Nations Security Council resolutions. The officials also reiterated their openness to dialogue with North Korea.
Cho and Sullivan reaffirmed the strength and significance of the South Korea-U.S. alliance as a foundational pillar for peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. They pledged cooperation in areas such as Indo-Pacific strategies, new technologies, and economic security.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol later hosted a dinner for the three national security advisers at his official residence. President Yoon underscored the heightened importance of South Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation in the current global context of armed conflicts and threats to the rule-based order. He expressed hopes for the smooth implementation of agreements made during their trilateral summit at Camp David in August, where the leaders committed to evolving their partnership into a comprehensive cooperation mechanism.