Japan, South Korea and the United States have agreed to work toward launching a mechanism to share real-time warning data on North Korean missile launches “before the end of the year,” the countries’ defense chiefs said Saturday.

In a joint statement released after a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of a regional security conference in Singapore, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada, South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and U.S. defense chief Lloyd Austin said they had discussed “ongoing progress” in consultations, calling the mechanism “a major step for deterrence, peace and stability.”

“At this meeting, we confirmed the progress of our study on the real-time sharing of North Korean missile warning data and agreed to make further progress toward the launch of initial operations within the next few months,” Hamada told reporters at the Shangri-La Dialogue conference. “The specific details and the timing of the operational launch are still being worked out, but we will make every effort to achieve this at the earliest possible time.”

The measure — the latest in a series of trilateral moves in response to the growing nuclear and missile threat from North Korea — comes amid a thaw in once-chilly ties between Tokyo and Seoul.

Speaking separately after the trilateral meeting, Lee said the real-time data sharing system could begin operations “within this year,” the Yonhap news agency reported.

Media reports have said that Japan and South Korea are planning to link their radars via a U.S. system, providing Tokyo with real-time data in a move that would improve its detection capabilities as the North continues to fire off missiles at an unprecedented clip — including a failed launch of a rocket carrying the country’s first military spy satellite earlier this week.

Leaders of the three countries agreed in November to work toward real-time data sharing on North Korean missiles, something they said would be “a major step for deterrence, peace and stability.”

"While actively implementing the agreed-upon measures between the leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan, the three countries agreed to elevate security cooperation to another level," Lee was quoted as saying.

"Especially regarding the real-time sharing of North Korean missile warning data, we decided to connect the respective information sharing systems — one run between South Korea and the United States and the other between Japan and the United States — and operate the combined one within this year," he said.

Working-level talks on the issue are expected soon, he added.

The real-time data-sharing would see radar and command-and-control systems used by the Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces in Japan connected to the South Korean military and American forces there via the Hawaii-based U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Doing so would bypass the thorny issue of two nonallied countries — Japan and South Korea — sharing delicate information instantly, since they would be doing it via their mutual ally, the U.S.

Hamada also said that the three countries had agreed to conduct “regular” military drills, including anti-submarine warfare exercises and missile-defense drills “to strengthen the three countries' response to the North Korean nuclear and missile threat and to deter such threats in a multifaceted manner.”

Years of chilly ties between Tokyo and Seoul have warmed in recent months under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, especially in the security arena as North Korea has showcased increasingly powerful missiles capable of evading defenses in both countries.

The North’s failed space rocket launch Thursday highlighted the growing concern among the three countries after it briefly triggered emergency alerts in Okinawa Prefecture and Seoul.

In bilateral talks in Tokyo on Thursday, Hamada and Austin strongly condemned the launch as a threat to peace and stability in the region. Pyongyang confirmed that the rocket carrying its first military satellite had crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff, but pledged to make another attempt “as soon as possible.”

During their trilateral meeting, the three top defense officials also stressed the importance of the rule of law and expressed strong opposition to any unilateral actions that seek to alter the status quo by force or coercion and increase tensions in the region — an apparent rebuke of China over its growing assertiveness and Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The trio also took up the touchy subject of democratic Taiwan, which Beijing claims as a renegade province, emphasizing “the importance of peace and stability” across the Taiwan Strait — a taboo issue until recent years as both Japan and South Korea look to keep ties with China, their biggest trading partner, on an even keel.