Japan-US Diplomacy and Defense: "Cooperation with Han is Important for Regional Peace and Stability"

2+2 Joint Meeting in Tokyo

The foreign and defense ministers of the United States and Japan emphasized the importance of cooperation with South Korea for regional peace and stability.

In a joint statement released after the 2+2 ministerial meeting held in Tokyo on the 28th (local time), the US-Japan foreign and defense ministers stated, "The ministers emphasized that deepening cooperation with South Korea is critically important in maintaining regional peace and stability, based on commitments made among leaders at the 2023 Camp David (ROK-US-Japan) summit and this year's trilateral foreign and defense ministerial meetings."

They welcomed the successful execution of the new trilateral ROK-US-Japan multi-domain joint exercise, 'Freedom Edge,' and the continued operation of the trilateral North Korean missile warning data sharing mechanism.

Freedom Edge, conducted from the 27th to 29th of last month in international waters south of Jeju, involved a large number of ROK-US-Japan ships and aircraft conducting joint exercises across various domains. Subsequently, on the 18th, the ROK-US-Japan Chiefs of Joint Staff agreed to expand Freedom Edge during their trilateral meeting.

Meanwhile, the 2+2 meeting was attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. On the Japanese side, Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko and Defense Minister Kihara participated. The US-Japan 2+2 meeting was held for the first time in about a year and a half since it was last convened in the United States in January of last year.

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