Japan has pledged that the government will incorporate South Korea's position in implementing new defense guidelines with the United States, the South Korean Defense Ministry said Monday.
Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said Japan made the commitment during a meeting in Washington last week between Hideshi Tokuchi, Japanese vice defense minister for international affairs, David Shear, assistant U.S. secretary of defense, and Yoo Jeh-seung, deputy minister for policy of the Defense Ministry in Seoul.
"The Japanese side said Japan would reflect South Korea's position to the fullest possible extent and the U.S. side also stated it will fully consider South Korea's national interest," Kim told a press briefing.
"As for the activities of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, we clearly said our consent must be obtained after a request from Japan is made," Kim said.
The two-day meeting, known as the Defense Trilateral Talks, comes at a time when the Japanese and U.S. governments are putting the finishing touches to the new defense guidelines, revised for the first time since 1997.
The guidelines would allow the Self-Defense Forces to be involved in more activities with the U.S. military, including cases where the Japanese forces could exercise the right to collective self-defense in line with Japan's new defense policy set last year.
The Japanese government in July last year changed the legal interpretation of the country's war-renouncing Constitution so the SDF could help the U.S. military even when Japan is not directly attacked.
Japan's move to expand its military forces has raised concerns in South Korea mainly arising from Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.