Senior defence officials from Japan, South Korea and the United States discussed the progress of plans to exchange real-time missile-warning data on North Korea, as noted in the November 2022 Phnom Penh Statement on Trilateral Partnership in the Indo-Pacific. This initiative, reflecting a longstanding intent to improve missile-defence cooperation, builds on an earlier trilateral information-sharing agreement from 2014 and the reinvigorated Japan–South Korea General Security of Military Information Agreement and comes in response to North Korea’s increasingly bold programme of missile launches. Real-time data sharing should enable faster, more accurate tracking of North Korean missiles. The governments are still discussing the specifics of the mechanism but they hope to activate it by the end of 2023. The three countries also agreed to increase cooperation related to joint maritime interdiction and anti-piracy, with future exercises likely to focus on illicit goods transferred via North Korean vessels.
Japan and South Korea have improved relations in recent months following a years-long downturn stemming from disagreements over Japan’s history of colonising the Korean Peninsula. The countries have agreed to increase security cooperation in response to China’s and North Korea’s growing defence capabilities. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol visited Tokyo in March for the first presidential-level meeting in 12 years.
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