（Press Release）
June 4, 2023
Ministry of Defense
On June 4, 2023, Minister of Defense Hamada, visiting Singapore to attend the 20th IISS Asia Pacific Security Conference (Shangri-La Dialogue), held a meeting with South Korean Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup.
The two Ministers strongly condemned North Korea for having pushed ahead with the launch using ballistic missile technology on May 31, as violating relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions. In addition, based on the necessity of responding to the severe security environment in the region such as North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, as well as global challenges, the two Ministers concurred on the importance of promoting Japan-ROK and Japan-ROK-U.S. defense cooperation. Moreover, taking into account that Japanese Prime Minister and ROK President affirmed that the improvement of Japan-ROK relations is on track and concurred on further developing Japan-ROK relations, the two Ministers affirmed that Japan and ROK defense authorities including at the ministerial level will communicate more closely, and concurred on the importance of cooperating on the following items.
1.Collaboration and Cooperation on Regional Security and Global Challenges
In order to uphold a free and open international order based on the rule of law and realize a free and open Indo-Pacific, Japan and ROK, which share fundamental values and strategic interests, will fulfill their responsible roles in regional security and work together to address Indo-Pacific and global challenges in accordance with international laws and rules, in collaboration with each other.
2.Promoting Japan-ROK and Japan-ROK-U.S. Cooperation
For regional security including response to North Korea’s threats, in light of the importance of cooperation with the United States, which is a common ally of both Japan and the ROK, the defense authorities of both countries will further advance Japan-ROK-U.S cooperation based on the discussions at Japan-ROK.U.S. Trilateral Ministerial Meeting (TMM) held yesterday, and work towards further collaboration and exchanges at various levels while enhancing mutual trust between the Japanese and ROK defense authorities.
Based on the above-mentioned common understanding, the two Ministers concurred on accelerating consultations on issues between Japan-ROK defense authorities including measures to prevent recurrence, in order to advance cooperation between the Japan-ROK defense authorities.