S. Korea's defense chief to head to Singapore for security forum
Korea's National Defense Minister Shin Won-sik speaks during an Australia and Korea Foreign and Defense Ministers meeting in Melbourne on May 1. AFP-Yonhap
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik was set to leave for Singapore to attend an annual security forum and hold meetings with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts in the face of North Korea's growing military threats, his office said Thursday.
The three-day Shangri-La Dialogue is scheduled to kick off in the city-state on Friday, bringing together senior security officials from some 40 countries, including the United States, China, Britain, Australia and Japan.
This year, Shin will deliver a speech highlighting South Korea's role in sustaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and request international support for such policy efforts, according to the ministry.
On the sidelines of the forum, Shin is set to hold trilateral talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, where they are expected to discuss ways to strengthen their security cooperation and assess their system for the real-time sharing of North Korean missile warning data.
Separately, Shin will hold bilateral talks with the U.S. defense chief, as well as with his Canadian, French and Filipino counterparts.
Hosted by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, the forum consists of seven key sessions, including those on U.S. strategic partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, enhancing crisis management amid rising competition and building cooperative security in the Asia-Pacific. (Yonhap)