Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and his South Korean counterpart Shin Won Sik agreed Saturday on measures to prevent radar lock-on incidents while affirming that their forces are aiming to build mutual confidence, APA reports citing Kyodo.
In a joint statement issued after their bilateral meeting in Singapore, Kihara and Shin also said the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the South Korean military will resume high-level exchanges, with Tokyo-Seoul relations improving in recent years.
The defense exchanges between the two forces have been nearly suspended amid a lingering row over a South Korean destroyer's alleged locking of a fire-control radar on an SDF patrol plane in December 2018. However, the latest statement avoided confirming whether the incident occurred.
"We have not changed our position (on the radar issue), and gaps remain between the two sides," Kihara told reporters, but he stressed the importance of the agreement, saying, "If a similar incident happens again, (the damage) would be irreparable."
At the outset of the meeting, meanwhile, Kihara told Shin that Japan and South Korea must try to boost real-time information sharing about North Korea's ballistic missile launches in cooperation with the United States.
The first bilateral talks between the defense ministers of the East Asian neighbors in about one year took place on the sidelines of the three-day Asia Security Summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, being held from Friday in the Southeast Asian city-state.
The alleged incident happened in Japan's exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan. However, Seoul has denied it, arguing that the Japanese plane flew menacingly at a low altitude near the warship while it was searching for a drifting North Korean fishing boat.
Saturday's meeting took place as the two governments explore ways to normalize their defense exchanges, acknowledging the need for collaboration to address nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, which has been strengthening its military ties with China.
Tokyo-Seoul ties have been improving since the inauguration of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in May 2022, after falling to their lowest point in decades under his predecessor, Moon Jae In, mainly due to wartime labor compensation and trade disputes.
The two nations have also been strengthening trilateral defense cooperation with their common ally, the United States, to deal with regional security challenges, including China's military buildup.
When Japanese and South Korean defense ministers held talks in Singapore in June last year, they agreed to speed up discussions on preventing a recurrence of similar incidents involving their forces' use of radar.
Japan, the United States and South Korea also plan to hold a trilateral defense ministerial meeting on Sunday on the sidelines of the major security conference, a source close to the matter said.
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