(Press release)
July 28, 2024
Ministry of Defense
On July 28, Minister of Defense Kihara Minoru, United States (U.S.) Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, and Republic of Korea (ROK) Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik held a Japan-U.S.- ROK Trilateral Ministerial Meeting for the first time in Japan.
At the meeting, they renewed their commitment to contribute to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula, in the Indo-Pacific, and beyond, and confirmed the success of the first multi-domain trilateral exercise “Freedom Edge” as well as discussing shared regional security challenges.
They signed the Memorandum of Cooperation on the Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework among Japan, the U.S., and the ROK to institutionalize the trilateral cooperation and confirmed their intent to continue trilateral security cooperation including senior-level policy consultations, real-time sharing of the DPRK missile warning data, and trilateral exercises. Accordingly, this signifies that the three countries have nominally and literally reached a new stage of trilateral cooperation.
The trilateral collaboration by Japan, U.S., and ROK is indispensable for the regional peace and stability under the increasingly severe security environment including the Korean Peninsula. Japan Ministry of Defense will continue to optimize various opportunities to further strengthen the trilateral cooperation among the three countries.
Japan-United States-Republic of Korea Trilateral Ministerial Meeting (TMM) (PDF)
[LINK] Japan-U.S.-ROK Trilateral Ministerial Meeting Joint Press Statement on July 28, 2024
