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South Korea, Japan and the U.S. will drastically step up joint military drills. An officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sunday said Korea and the U.S. agreed at their 30th Military Committee Meeting in Washington on Oct. 16 on the need for security cooperation among Korea, the U.S. and Japan ¡°to maintain regional stability.¡± The three countries will take part in joint military exercises organized by U.S. Pacific Command.
The two countries seem determined to revive a tripartite security system that weakened during the previous administration in Korea.
Korea and Japan have so far participated only in humanitarian search and rescue exercises in the seas as part of the RIMPAC exercise, the largest military exercise in the region initiated by the U.S. military. Under the latest agreement, they are expected to take part in combat exercises as well.
The three countries will discuss the scope of the exercises and size of participating personnel at an annual meeting of chief strategy officers from the three countries, which will be held in December behind closed doors.
Seoul, Washington and Tokyo are also reportedly discussing resuming a trilateral defense strategy conference, which has been suspended since 2006, when Korea boycotted it in the wake of Japanese distortion of history in textbooks. At the same time, Seoul and Washington reportedly agreed to avoid provoking China by strengthening the tripartite security system.
A military officer said U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen ¡°stressed the importance of China's role in reducing tension on the Korean Peninsula and of strengthening cooperation with China so that it can make positive contributions in an emergency on the peninsula."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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