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South Korea and Japan reaffirmed Sunday their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and agreed to continue defense cooperation, despite North Korea's repeated pledges to expand its nuclear arsenal.
South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back held talks in Seoul with Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who is on a two-day visit to South Korea.
The two ministers agreed to explore ways to deepen defense cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.
The meeting came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to strengthen his country's defense capabilities, including equipping its navy with nuclear weapons and pressing ahead with missile testing.
South Korea and Japan are both security allies of Washington, but cooperation between their militaries has been limited by historical tensions stemming from Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in the early 20th century.
The two ministers "reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of lasting peace," South Korea's Defense Ministry said in a statement after the meeting.
They also agreed to continue bilateral cooperation between South Korea and Japan, as well as trilateral cooperation among South Korea, Japan, and the United States.
The meeting came weeks after the two neighbors held their first joint maritime search-and-rescue exercise in nine years, a move widely seen as another step toward closer defense cooperation.
The renewed commitment by the two defense chiefs to rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons comes as Pyongyang has recently vowed not only to retain its nuclear arsenal but also to expand it.
Kim earlier this month pledged to strengthen North Korea's defense capabilities, citing military modernization efforts by South Korea and the U.S. that he said were pushing the region "to the brink of a nuclear war."
He also vowed that North Korea would equip its navy with nuclear weapons and build larger warships.
Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an "irreversible" nuclear state since a 2019 summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi collapsed over the scope of denuclearization and sanctions relief.
North Korea remains technically at war with South Korea because the Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
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