South Korea and Japan on Sunday reaffirmed their commitment to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and agreed to revive joint search-and-rescue drills, marking a step forward for security ties between the neighboring countries.
Defense Ministers Meet in Seoul
Meeting in Seoul, South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back and his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi agreed to work on regional stability bilaterally, as well as through their partnerships with Washington, in the sixth round of talks between the two countries. "Both ministers shared the view to continue cooperation for maintaining regional peace and stability amid a grave security environment," South Korea's defence ministry said in a statement.
Revival of Joint Exercises
The two sides agreed to hold a joint humanitarian search-and-rescue exercise in June, the first in almost a decade. Ahn and Koizumi also agreed to continue fostering exchange between their air forces' respective aerobatic teams — South Korea’s Black Eagles and Japan’s Blue Impulse — to further advance search-and-rescue exercises designed for various maritime accident scenarios.
Broader Security Context
South Korea and Japan, with US encouragement, have been working to develop closer ties since 2022 and overcome sometimes bitter historical differences, a policy continued by President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. In 2025, Japan's then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and President Lee agreed to closer security and economic ties, and the defence ministers committed to working with Washington against North Korea's nuclear threat and Pyongyang's growing military ties with Russia, including cooperation on AI and unmanned systems and annual trilateral drills. Takaichi and Lee agreed in January 2026 to deepen shuttle diplomacy and in May expanded cooperation on energy.
Previous Agreements and Remaining Tensions
The two previously held talks in Japan in January and met again in May at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore where they discussed a possible military-logistics support agreement covering fuel, food and ammunition. Tensions, however, remain, including lingering disputes over Korean women forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War Two. In February, Seoul protested against a Japanese government event commemorating a cluster of disputed islands known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, which controls the territory.
