U.S., South Korea and Japan to counter N. Korea with new missile information sharing system
Defense chiefs from the United States, South Korea and Japan introduced Sunday that they may set up a real-time, three-way missile warning information sharing system in December to extra successfully detect ballistic missile launches from North Korea.
The South Korean Defense Ministry mentioned in a press release that the “real-time sharing mechanism” will likely be “geared toward enhancing every nation’s capabilities of detecting and assessing North Korea‘s missiles,” according to the official Yonhap News Agency in Seoul.
The statement was circulated following a meeting in the South Korean capital on Sunday between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart, Shin Won-sik. Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara was reported to have joined the meeting via video link.
The announcement comes roughly three months after President Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held a summit at the White House presenting a new agreement designed to deter North Korea from launching a nuclear attack.
The agreement, dubbed the “Washington Declaration,” included the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in nearly 40 years. It also included a commitment by the United States to establish a nuclear consultative group with South Korea for enhanced intelligence and information sharing on U.S. nuclear and strategic weapons operations plans in the region.
In exchange for the U.S. commitment, the Yoon government in Seoul agreed that South Korea will not pursue its own nuclear weapons arsenal.
While the U.S. and Japan also have close intelligence sharing operations vis-a-vis threats from North Korea, the extent of Tokyo’s participation within the Washington Declaration has not been publicly mentioned by U.S. officers.
Sunday’s improvement suggests a rise in three-way intelligence sharing between the United States, South Korea and Japan, significantly with regard to ballistic missile threats from North Korea.
The North Korean regime has carried out waves of medium- and long-range ballistic missile exams lately, launching Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles earlier this yr whereas reportedly additionally making preparations to launch its first navy spy satellite tv for pc.
Pyongyang has additionally claimed to be making dramatic will increase in its nuclear weapons arsenal, which has been constructed up clandestinely over many years in violation of repeated U.N. Security Council resolutions.
In addition to establishing the brand new missile warning information sharing system, the U.S., South Korean and Japanese protection chiefs additionally agreed Sunday to stipulate plans for trilateral navy drills by the tip of this yr to conduct joint coaching “more systematically and efficiently” starting in January, in line with Yonhap.
The information company famous that the agreements come as Washington and its two Asian allies have been striving to strengthen trilateral safety cooperation as long-frayed relations between Seoul and Tokyo have considerably warmed up.
