The defense chiefs of Japan and South Korea held their first ministerial talks in more than three years Sunday in Singapore — another concrete signal of the neighbors’ rapprochement on the security front after a 2018 fire-control radar incident involving their navies.
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada met with South Korean defense chief Lee Jong-sup on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue Asia security conference, with Hamada saying the two had discussed a variety of issues, including ways to prevent a recurrence of an incident similar to the 2018 episode.
“We shared the importance of promoting Japan-South Korea defense cooperation and agreed to accelerate discussions on major issues of concern between our defense authorities, including measures to prevent a recurrence (of the radar incident),” Hamada said.