Korea-Japan Resume '2+2' Diplomatic and Security Talks After 5 Years... Discuss North Korea Nuclear and Security Cooperation

Resumption as a Follow-up to the March 16 Summit... Diplomatic and Defense Directors-General of Both Countries Attend

The '2+2' level director-general diplomatic and security dialogue, attended separately by South Korean and Japanese diplomatic and security officials, was held for the first time in five years. The meeting discussed North Korea's nuclear issue and security cooperation between the two countries.

At around 10 a.m. that day, the two countries held the '12th Korea-Japan Security Policy Consultations' at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Seoul. The South Korean delegation included Seo Min-jeong, Director-General of the Asia-Pacific Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Woo Kyung-seok, Deputy Director-General of International Policy at the Ministry of National Defense, along with other officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense. The Japanese side was represented by Takehiro Funakoshi (船越 健裕), Director-General of the Asia and Oceania Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Atsushi Ando (安藤 敦史), Deputy Director-General of Defense Policy at the Ministry of Defense, along with other officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.

This consultation was a follow-up measure to the Korea-Japan summit held on March 16. During the meeting, both sides exchanged broad opinions on the security environment in Northeast Asia, including the North Korean nuclear issue, the current status of defense and security policy cooperation between the two countries, and the status of Korea-Japan and Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation.

The Korea-Japan Security Policy Consultations have been held 11 times since the first meeting in Seoul in 1998, following an agreement at the Korea-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting in 1997. However, the meetings had not been held since March 2018 due to deteriorating relations between the two countries.

Both sides stated at this meeting that "they shared perceptions of the security environment in Northeast Asia between the diplomatic and security authorities of the two countries, enhanced mutual understanding of each other's defense and security policies, and agreed to develop security cooperation between Korea and Japan in a future-oriented manner."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.