Japan, S. Korea to skip defense minister talks

May 29, 2019

Tokyo--Japan and South Korea will forgo a meeting of their defense ministers on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit in Singapore from Friday, sources in the Japanese Defense Ministry have said.

The plan for Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Kyeong-doo, to hold talks on the margin of the three-day regional conference, better known as Shangri-La Dialogue, will not materialize, amid fears of the two countries' relations worsening further if the bilateral talks are held while no breakthrough in their disputes is in sight, according to the sources.

The East Asian neighbors are at odds over, among other problems, an incident in which a South Korean warship allegedly directed its fire-control radar at a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol plane in the Sea of Japan last December.

The Japanese ministry has been seeking better ties with South Korean defense authorities at a time when the issue of North Korea's nuclear and missile development remains unresolved. It has been unable to make headway, however.

One senior ministry official said that talks between Iwaya and Jeong "would be meaningless unless constructive discussions are to be held," while another noted, "An official meeting (between the two ministers) would be difficult given the current situation."

Contact between Iwaya and Jeong during the Shangri-La Dialogue is expected to be limited to brief conversations.

Still, they are expected to meet during a trilateral session among the defense ministers from Japan, South Korea and the United States on Sunday, also on the fringe of the regional meeting in Singapore. The three-way talks will likely focus on cooperation on measures in response to North Korea.

Meanwhile, a bilateral meeting between Iwaya and his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, has been arranged for Saturday.

They are expected to discuss plans to establish a hotline based on a bilateral air and maritime communication mechanism for avoiding unintended clashes in the East China Sea and expand exchanges between the two countries' defense authorities. Jiji Press