South Korea, U.S. and Japan vow continued cooperation on North Korea's denuclearization
The three countries' joint chiefs of staff reaffirmed their concerns about Pyongyang's threat with stronger language and a renewed focus on their trilateral security partnership.
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung, right, poses with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Gen. Dan Caine, left, and Gen. Hiroaki Uchikura, respectively, during their Trilateral Chiefs of Defense meeting at the Pentagon near Washington, on July 15.JCS
The South Korean, U.S. and Japanese joint chiefs of staff said Wednesday they had agreed to “continue cooperating toward North Korea's complete denuclearization,” as the three countries pushed back against Pyongyang's efforts to cement its status as a nuclear power with backing from China and Russia.
Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and Japanese Joint Staff Chief of Staff Gen. Hiroaki Uchikura made the statement in a joint press release adopted after the Trilateral Chiefs of Defense meeting held near Washington.
“They reaffirmed that trilateral security cooperation is key to effectively responding to various regional challenges and threats, including North Korean nuclear and missile threats that affect peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” the statement read.
The statement follows last month's joint press release from Korea and the U.S. after their Nuclear Consultative Group meeting, which also signaled they will not recognize North Korea as a nuclear state.
The renewed emphasis on denuclearization appears to reflect concern among the three countries as cooperation between North Korea, China and Russia deepens while the goal of denuclearization recedes. The readout of last month's North Korea-China summit in Pyongyang, held June 8 and 9, made no mention of North Korea's nuclear program or denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, raising concerns that China may be tacitly tolerating Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal.
Russia, too, defended North Korea at a U.N. Security Council meeting in April, citing trilateral security cooperation among Korea, the U.S. and Japan and saying that under conditions of extreme hostility, the independent and sovereign leadership of North Korea has no choice but to make decisions for its own security.
In response, Korea and the U.S. said in a joint press statement following their Nuclear Consultative Group meeting on June 11 that the two countries “reaffirmed their shared goal of North Korea's denuclearization.” Wednesday's emphasis on denuclearization cooperation by the trilateral joint chiefs can be seen as reaffirming that the allies cannot tolerate nuclear possession by North Korea, which they consider an “illegal nuclear development state.”
The three chiefs of defense had similarly agreed at a meeting in Seoul last July to condemn North Korea's illegal nuclear and ballistic missile development programs and to continue cooperating toward the North's complete denuclearization, in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions.
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jin Young-sung, right, and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Dan Caine, salute during an honor guard welcoming ceremony at the Pentagon on July 15.JCS
On Wednesday, the three defense chiefs said they recognized the need to deepen cooperation across different domains and agreed to continue exploring ways to sustain momentum in trilateral security cooperation, including through the annual joint military Freedom Edge exercise. Freedom Edge is a multidomain military exercise conducted by Korea, the U.S. and Japan in waters near the Korean Peninsula. It expanded the existing trilateral exercise, previously focused mainly on naval forces, to include air and cyberdomains conducted simultaneously, and has been held three times so far — in June and November 2024 and in September last year.
The three defense chiefs also agreed to hold their next meeting in Japan next year.
Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost, commander of U.S. Forces Japan and Gen. George Rowell, deputy commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, also attended Wednesday's meeting.
Bilateral meetings were also held between the Korean and U.S. chiefs of defense and between the Korean and Japanese defense chiefs. According to the JCS, the Korean and U.S. chiefs agreed to advance combined operational capabilities through combined exercises and high-level military exchanges and to continue cooperating so the Korea-U.S. alliance can maintain its role as a linchpin of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region. The Korean and Japanese chiefs agreed that North Korea's nuclear and missile threats represent a shared challenge to security.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
