Korea-Japan Security Policy Consultative Meeting to Resume After 5 Years
by Jang Heejun
Published 14 Apr.2023 17:31(KST)
12th Director-General Level Meeting Held in Seoul on 17th
Korean Foreign & Defense - Japanese Foreign & Defense '2+2 Dialogue'
Follow-up Measures of Korea-Japan Summit... Discussion on Cooperation Plans
As a follow-up measure to the Korea-Japan summit, a consultative body between the diplomatic and security authorities of the two countries to discuss security cooperation plans will be resumed after five years.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 14th that the 12th Korea-Japan Security Policy Consultative Meeting, also known as the '2+2 Diplomatic and Security Dialogue,' will be held on the 17th in Seoul, with participation from Korea-Japan diplomatic and security officials at the director-general level. On the Korean side, Seo Min-jung, Director-General of the Asia-Pacific Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Woo Kyung-seok, Deputy Director-General of International Policy at the Ministry of National Defense, will participate as representatives. On the Japanese side, Takehiro Funakoshi, Director-General of the Asia and Oceania Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Atsushi Ando, Director of Defense Policy at the Ministry of Defense, will participate as representatives.
The resumption of this Security Policy Consultative Meeting after five years is a measure taken in accordance with the agreement between the Korea-Japan leaders at the summit on the 16th of last month to promptly restore various intergovernmental consultative bodies discussing the joint interests of the two countries and to activate communication.
At this meeting, the diplomatic and security authorities of Korea and Japan are expected to exchange views on mutual interests including ▲ the security environment of Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula ▲ the current status of defense and security policies and cooperation between the two countries ▲ and the future direction of defense and security cooperation between the two countries.
Meanwhile, the Korea-Japan Security Policy Consultative Meeting has been steadily held 11 times from the first meeting in June 1998 in Seoul, following an agreement made at the Korea-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting in 1997, until 2018. However, due to the deterioration of bilateral relations amid conflicts over the forced labor compensation ruling, the meeting has not been held since the Tokyo meeting in March 2018.
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