Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
S. Korea, Japan to resume search-and-rescue drills after 9-year hiatus
Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back of South Korea, right, and Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi review an honor guard at the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force headquarters in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, Friday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
Korea and Japan agreed Friday to resume joint search-and-rescue exercises for the first time in nine years, marking a symbolic step toward restoring military cooperation as the two countries seek to expand personnel and unit-level exchanges.
Speaking at the outset of the talks, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said the meeting should serve as “an opportunity to face the past honestly, assess the present and move toward the future.” He later agreed with his Japanese counterpart to resume the long-suspended drills and to institutionalize annual defense talks.
The agreement was reached during talks between Ahn and Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo. According to Korea’s Ministry of National Defense, the resumption of maritime search-and-rescue exercises between the Korean Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force will be conducted for humanitarian purposes. The drills had been suspended since 2016 amid strained bilateral relations.
Both ministers agreed that revitalizing personnel and unit exchanges was essential to building mutual trust between the two militaries. As part of those efforts, they welcomed a series of recent interactions, including exchanges between Korea’s Army 3rd Military Academy and Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force Officer Candidate School.
They also mentioned the recent visit of Korea’s Air Force aerobatic team, the Black Eagles, to Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force base in Naha, Okinawa, where the team conducted its first-ever exchange with Japan’s Blue Impulse aerobatic squad.
The talks took place against the backdrop of an increasingly unstable regional security situation. The ministers agreed that close coordination was necessary to address regional security challenges, including North Korea’s nuclear threat, and pledged to maintain trilateral cooperation with the United States.
In a joint statement, the defense ministries said both sides recognized the importance of placing bilateral defense exchanges on a stable footing. To that end, the ministers agreed to institutionalize regular communication channels and annual meetings. They also agreed to explore future cooperation in advanced defense-related technologies, including artificial intelligence, unmanned systems and space.
Separately, Ahn thanked Japan for its assistance after a Korean Air Force C-130H transport aircraft made an emergency landing earlier Friday at Japan’s Naha Air Base while en route to Saudi Arabia for an international defense exhibition. The aircraft experienced a minor technical issue requiring maintenance. Ahn said the response reflected the symbolic significance of the day’s talks and invited Koizumi to visit Korea to maintain the momentum of bilateral exchanges.