US defense chief welcomes Korea-Japan agreement in Singapore

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, right, and his Japanese counterpart, Minoru Kihara, shake hands during a bilateral talk on the sideline of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, June 1. Yonhap

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Saturday welcomed an agreement by defense chiefs of Korea and Japan to take measures to prevent the recurrence of a 2018 maritime spat over Japanese patrol aircraft.

Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and his Japanese counterpart, Minoru Kihara, announced the agreement after their talks held on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, in a deal that could remove a major hindrance to efforts to strengthen bilateral military cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo.

In a statement, Austin said the deal between Korea and Japan would "strengthen their bilateral defense relationship, including measures to support operational safety and lines of communication."

"Stronger bilateral cooperation between each of our countries helps advance trilateral cooperation among all of our countries," Austin said.

The defense chiefs of Korea, the U.S. and Japan were set to hold a meeting on the sidelines of the security forum in Singapore.

The dispute flared up in Dec. 2018, when a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft made an unusually low-altitude flyby over a Korean warship. Seoul decried the plane's approach as a "menacing" flight, while Tokyo has accused the Korean vessel of having locked its fire-control radar on the plane.

The incident had remained a source of friction for years until Seoul and Tokyo's defense chiefs agreed to begin working-level talks on the issue at the annual security forum held in Singapore last year, in what marked the first defense ministerial talks between Seoul and Tokyo since Nov. 2019. (Yonhap)