Japan and South Korea hold first defense-minister talks in 11 years, pledging AI and maritime cooperation
South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi met in Seoul for the first bilateral defense-minister meeting in 11 years, pledging cooperation on AI and advanced defense technologies and resuming maritime search-and-rescue exercises after a nine-year pause. The meeting marks a structural normalization of one of Asia's most historically fraught security relationships — a fact that strengthens US-Japan-Korea trilateral coordination as North Korea's threat posture intensifies, even as the two countries' logistics-sharing agreement (ACSA) remains politically blocked in Seoul.
Source: koreatimes.co.kr ↗
The fact that the Japanese and South Korean defense ministers are in the same helicopter, traveling to a South Korean army base, demonstrates the deepening defense cooperation between the two nations.
Why this matters
- → Restores defense-minister diplomacy after 11-year gap, strengthening trilateral US coordination.
- → AI and maritime cooperation address North Korea threat escalation.
- → Signals structural normalization of historically fractured Japan-Korea security relationship.