South Korean Leader Calls for Strong Security Cooperation With US, Japan

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at a press briefing at the White House garden in Washington on April 26, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The South Korean leader has called for stronger cooperation with the United States and Japan, including collaboration on reconnaissance assets, to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear threats.

In his Liberation Day speech on Aug. 15, President Yoon Suk-yeol said the upcoming summit with the U.S. and Japanese leaders at Camp David would set “a new milestone” in their trilateral cooperation.

“The significance of ROK-U.S.-Japan trilateral security cooperation is increasingly growing on the Korean Peninsula and in the region,” Mr. Yoon said, referring to South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

President Joe Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Mr. Yoon for a summit at Camp David on Aug. 18 to discuss “expanding trilateral cooperation across the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” according to the White House.

This will be the first time the three leaders gather specifically for a trilateral summit rather than on the sidelines of international meetings. U.S. officials said the leaders would announce plans for expanded military cooperation on ballistic missile defense and technology development.

In his speech, Mr. Yoon said the three allied nations “must closely cooperate on reconnaissance assets and share North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles data in real-time.”

South Korea, Japan Pursue Common Interests

Mr. Yoon’s speech marked the 78th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 35-year colonial rule in 1945. Past South Korean presidents commonly used Liberation Day speeches to ask Japan to make fresh apologies for its colonial wrongdoing.

But Mr. Yoon, a conservative who has pushed to resolve the historical grievance as a way to boost cooperation, didn’t do so and instead explained again why improved ties with Japan were needed.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida bow as they lay flowers at the Monument in Memory of the Korean Victims of the 1945 atomic bombing near the Peace Park Memorial in Hiroshima, western Japan, on May 21, 2023, on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit. Yuichi Yamazaki/Pool Photo via AP

“The seven rear bases provided to the United Nations Command (UNC) by the government of Japan serve as the greatest deterrent, which keeps the North from invading the South,” he remarked.

“A renewed North Korean invasion will trigger an automatic and immediate intervention and retaliation by the UNC, and the UNC rear in Japan is sufficiently equipped with necessary land, sea, and air capabilities,” Mr. Yoon said.

Mr. Yoon referred to Japan as a partner with whom South Korea shares “universal values and pursues common interests.”

“As partners that cooperate on security and the economy, Korea and Japan will be able to jointly contribute to peace and prosperity across the globe while collaborating and exchanging in a future-oriented manner.”

Japan and South Korea have previously declared the “complete” normalization of their military intelligence-sharing pact to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

In June, the defense chiefs of the United States, Japan, and South Korea met on the sidelines of a security conference in Singapore and agreed to launch a data-sharing mechanism by the end of the year.

“The specific details and the timing of the operational launch are still being worked out, but we will make every effort to achieve this at the earliest possible time,” Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters.

North Korea has been ramping up tension with South Korea and the United States by testing various weapons, including its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile. Since the start of 2022, North Korea has fired more than 100 missiles.

Many of the missiles tested were nuclear-capable weapons that place both South Korea and Japan within striking distance and could potentially reach the United States.

Mimi Nguyen Ly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.