South Korea and Japan agreed to bolster defense cooperation and exchanges during a meeting between their defense chiefs in Tokyo on Sunday. The ministers concurred on the importance of trilateral security cooperation with the U.S. amid escalating threats from North Korea and strengthening Russia-North Korea military ties.

As a follow-up to their June meeting, the defense ministers committed to reviving mutual visits, resuming consultative bodies and unit exchanges between their armed forces and restarting joint search and rescue exercises. The two nations pledged to maintain close communication on regional and global security issues as key partners and to continually reinforce bilateral and trilateral security collaboration based on mutual trust.