Military chiefs of South Korea, US vow to strengthen trilateral security cooperation with Japan

Seoul, May 21
The top military officers of South Korea and the US vowed to further strengthen the allies' trilateral security cooperation with Japan during their first video talks earlier this week, the South's military said Wednesday.

Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and his US counterpart, Gen. John Daniel Caine, held the talks Tuesday, which marked the first between the two sides since Caine took office last month.

"Through the South Korea-US-Japan Trilateral Chief of Defense meeting set to take place in South Korea in July, (the two sides) agreed to further strengthen the momentum of trilateral security cooperation," the JCS said in a release.

The three countries have recently ramped up trilateral security cooperation through joint military drills amid growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, Yonhap news agency reported.

Kim and Caine also stressed the importance of establishing the capabilities and posture to effectively respond to advancing North Korean threats in line with Pyongyang's expanding cooperation with Moscow, according to the JCS.

North Korea is suspected to have received military technology assistance from Russia in return for deploying troops in support of Moscow's war against Ukraine.

Earlier in March, 2025, South Korea, the US and Japan have conducted joint naval drills involving the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, Seoul's defence ministry said, in efforts to better deter and counter North Korea's chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) threats.

The trilateral naval drills, was the first such exercise conducted this year and since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January -- took place in international waters south of the southern resort island of Jeju.