Text Fwd: East Asia’s military buildup sparks concern

* Image source: same as the link

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*Text thanks to Mr. Go Gwon-Il
* On the SPARK missile, see here

* 스파크 미사일에 대해서 여기를 보시길. (고권일 선생님 링크 제공)___________________________________________

Korea Times
East Asia’s military buildup sparks concern
Jan. 17, 2011
By Kang Hyun-kyung

Some defense watchers note that East Asian nations are becoming more conservative of late, voicing concern that this could raise the possibility of an arms buildup in the region.

They allege that an assertive China and provocative North Korea together are playing a role in changing the security landscape, adding this could motivate regional players to upgrade their weapons’ capability.

The concern was addressed days before U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Washington to discuss issues of mutual concern.

The Obama-Hu summit coincides with a growing concern in Seoul over the Cold War-like confrontations between the blocs of South Korea, the United States and Japan, and China and North Korea looming large on the Korean Peninsula.

“When China bashes Japan about the islands (Senkaku in Japanese and Daioyu in Chinese); that has a strong impact on Japanese behavior and also on Korean behavior,” a U.S. defense expert told The Korea Times last week on condition of anonymity.

“North Korea on the nuclear front especially prompts the Japanese to think that a missile defense system is good, but I think Chinese behavior is much more important in shaping the general need for security in the region.”

The expert noted that there was a possibility of an arms race in East Asia.

His remarks came days after photos and images of a Chinese radar-evading stealth fighter, the J-20, surfaced.

The Chinese version of “a show of force” came at a time when Seoul and Tokyo agreed to seek their first-ever bilateral military agreement after Washington called on the two sides to work closely to deter North Korean aggression.

Washington reportedly wants Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to take a larger role in regional security.

Upgrading missile defense

While seeking military ties with Japan, the South Korean military announced a plan to deploy Israeli-built precision-guided anti-tank missiles on Yeonpyeong Island in February. The island was devastated by a deadly North Korean attack last November.

The embryonic trilateral military partnership among South Korea, Japan and the United States appears to have made China uncomfortable.

William Tobey, senior fellow at the Harvard University Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, told The Korea Times last week that some Chinese have complained that the ties were aimed at countering China.

Tobey travelled to China before arriving in Seoul. The former U.S. National Security Council staffer met with several academics there and made the point that China needed to do more to rein in North Korea as the latter’s provocations work against its interests.

Earlier, Japan unveiled plans to field three additional Patriot advanced missile interceptor units and expedite production of Aegis missile defense warships.

Although Japan said the plan was focused on North Korea after it sank the warship Cheonan in March, unveiled an enriched uranium program and shelled Yeonpyeong, China reacted nervously.

A Chinese diplomat was quoted as saying in December that China will have no other choice but to respond by enhancing its own military capabilities.

China’s unveiling of the new stealth fighter came while U.S. Defense Secretary Gates was visiting the country.

The U.S. defense chief told reporters that he learned “the test spin of the stealth fighter had absolutely nothing to do with the visit and had been a pre-planned test.”

However, Gates expressed worries over Beijing’s progress in developing anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles as he believed this could potentially target U.S. vessels in East Asia.

Asked about Chinese motives behind the timing of the test of the fighter, William Tobey speculated there might be a rift among Chinese policymakers over the decision.

“It’s totally difficult to speculate on their motives. The Chinese government may not be united. It may be that some people wanted to point this out regardless of what President Hu wanted and took advantage of that timing to reveal their firepower,” he said.

Tobey stressed that North Korea’s bad behavior increases the need for missile defense and this makes for a continuing presence of U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula.

It may increase the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other things that run counter to Chinese security interests, he noted, adding it was less North Korea but “the China factor” behind East Asian nations’ interests in missile systems.

“I think Chinese behavior last year has also been provocative. It’s not clear why. Whether the People’s Liberation Army has been enhanced or whether there is a succession crisis in Beijing. Everyone is moving to the right,” the U.S. expert said.

Xi Jinping, vice president of China, was appointed last October as one of the vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission, a move seen as a key step toward his succession in two year’s time.
Xi is reportedly on track to become Communist Party general secretary when President Hu Jintao’s term ends in 2012 and President in 2013.

Military buildup: 한중일, 미사일 방어체제 강화

한반도 긴장이 계속되면서 동아시아 국가들간 군비증강 움직임이 공통적으로 포착되고 있다. 미국 국방 전문가들은 한국, 중국, 일본에서 미사일 방위체제에 대한 관심이 증대되고 있는 점에 주목하고 있으며, 일부는 이러한 움직임이 탈냉전 시대에 군비경쟁으로 이어질 가능성도 배제할 수 없다고 지적한다.

한국은 스파이크 미사일을 연평도에 배치할 예정이며, 중국은 게이츠 미국방장관이 중국을 방문한 시점에 신형 스텔스 전투기를 선보이며 긴장을 조성한 바 있다.

일본은 작년 12월 북한의 도발에 대응하기 위해 미사일 체제를 강화할 것임을 밝힌 바 있다.

미국 전문가들은 북한의 한반도 도발과 중국이 작년 센카쿠 열도를 둘러싼 영토분쟁을 통해 보여준 공세적인 자세가 일본이 미사일 방어체제에 관심을 갖는 이유라고 분석한다.

Photos Fwd: [SPARK] Stop the drive for ROK-Japan joint security statement! immediately resume the NK-Japan talk!

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* 2011년 1월 15일 한일 외교장관회담에 즈음한 정당사회단체 공동 기자회견문
: 한일 안보공동선언 추진 중단! 북일 대화 즉각 재개! (클릭)
* You can see the original Korean joint statement by the Korean parties and civic organizations upon the meeting by the foreign ministers of Japan and Korea on Jan. 15, HERE.
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* All the image source: Solidarty for Peace And Reunification of Korea, Jan. 15, 2011
평화와 통일을 여는 사람들, 2011년 1월 15일

The banner reads:

Stop the drive for ROK-Japan joint security statement! Immediately resume the NK-Japan talk!

In front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, upon the visit by Seiji Maehara, Foreign Minister of Japan, Jan. 15, 2011

No JSDF into the Korean peninsula!

No ROK-Japan joint security statement! Immediately resume the NK-Japan talks!
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* Related news

Korea Times

Japanese FM urges NK to take concrete action

Jan. 15, 2011

Yonhap News

Japanese FM urges N. Korea to take concrete action, improve ties with S. Korea

Jan. 15, 2011

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* Related blogs

[SPARK upon the visit by Gates, Secretary of Defense, United States, on Jan. 14, 2011]Stop the Military Oppression against North Korea! Immediately enter the peace talks!

[The Yomiuri Shimbun on Jan. 14, 2011] Gates, ministers agree on deepening alliance

PACOM Headlines, Jan. 3 to Jan. 13, 2011

[New York Times on Jan. 13, 20011] Gates: U.S. troops needed in Japan to keep China, North Korea in check

[Rick Rozoff on Jan. 12, 2011] U.S. Recruits Japan As Global Military Partner

[SPARK upon the visit by Kitazawa, Minister of Defense, Japan on Jan. 11, 2011] No ROK-Japan military pact! No US-Japan-ROK trilateral Alliance!

[Hankyoreh Editorial on Jan. 11, 2011] Problems with a South Korea-Japan military pact

[PSPD statement on Jan. 5, 2011] S. Korea-Japan Military Pact should not be initiated, which will inevitably justify JSDF's military actions and bring a new Cold War in Northeast Asia. - It neutralizes the Article 9 of the Peace Constitution of Japan

[Yonhap News on Jan. 4, 2011]U.S.-Engineered Alliance: Japanese, South Korean DMs To Meet

[Japan Times on Jan 4, 2011] Military pact sought with South Korea

[Korea Times 0n Feb. 15, 2011] East Asian Security Framework Planned

Photos Fwd: [SPARK] Stop the Military Oppression against North Korea! Immediately enter the peace talks!

* Image description comes later
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평화와 통일을 여는 사람들 로버트 게이츠 미국 국방장관 방한 대응 기자회견문
: 대북 군사적 압박 중단하고 평화협정 협상에 즉각 나서라!
(* To see the Korean language statement, click above)
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* All the image source: Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea, Jan. 14, 2011

Press interview upon the visit by Robert Gates, Defense Secretary of the United States
:Stop the Military Oppression against North Korea! Immediately Enter the Peace talks!
In front of Ministry of National Defense, 1pm, Jan, 14, 2011

로버트 게이츠 미국 국방장관 방한 대응 기자회견
대북 군사적 압박 중단하고 평화협정 협상에 즉각 나서라!
- 2011년 1월 14일 오후 1시, 국방부 정문 앞 -

Go Back! Gates who continues military oppression against North Korea!

One of the signs reads:
We denounce ROK-US authorities that drive for Missile Defense, under the pretext of threat from North Korea!

“It seems that the mention of ‘necessary measure to protect the United States’ that the US government authority figures said contains the U.S. oppression with which she would enter for the establishment of MD, along with ROK and Japan, targeting China, in case China does not make pressure North Korea. That shows how the U.S. is abusing the intense situation of Korean peninsula in building blockage against China, not only against North Korea." (part transaltion from the SPARK statment)

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See also
Yonhap News
Lee reminds Gates of urgency for denuclearizing N. Korea
2011/01/14 17:19 KST

Text Fwd: Gates, ministers agree on deepening alliance

* Text from Corazon Valdez Fabros on Jan. 14, 2011

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Gates, ministers agree on deepening alliance
Jan. 14, 2011


Prime Minister Naoto Kan and other Japanese leaders agreed Thursday with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the two countries will work together to deepen their alliance.

Gates met separately with Kan, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara in the morning.

Given the increasingly uncertain situation on the Korean Peninsula as a result of North Korea's nuclear development program and its shelling of a South Korean island, they also reaffirmed the significance of U.S. forces' presence in the Asia-Pacific region and of defense cooperation between Japan, South Korea and the United States.

In addition, they agreed to work to strengthen the bilateral alliance by the time Kan is scheduled to visit the United States in spring.

"We'd like to make progress toward deepening the Japan-U.S. alliance," Kan told Gates at the start of their meeting at the Prime Minister's Office.

In response, Gates said he was looking forward to discussing what must be done to further solidify the two countries' ties.

In the meetings between Gates and the Japanese ministers, the two countries confirmed their policy of promoting the Japan-U.S. agreement in May over the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.

However, when it came to reducing the burden on Okinawa Prefecture of hosting U.S. military facilities, Gates stopped short of making any pledges.

When Maehara sought U.S. cooperation in resolving the issue, Gates replied that the matter was closely linked with the relocation of Futenma and that steps would be taken in line with progress on that point, according to government officials.

As a specific measure to reduce the burden on Okinawa, Kitazawa asked Gates to promote negotiations on a plan to move some training functions of F-15 fighters stationed at Kadena Air Base in the prefecture to the U.S. territory of Guam, the officials said.

After their meeting, Kitazawa and Gates held a joint press conference at the Defense Ministry, in which Gates indicated the United States would observe the development of negotiations between the central government and the Okinawa prefectural government.

They said the two countries had agreed on the importance of enhancing cooperation between Japan, South Korea and the United States in dealing with North Korea.

Gates sought cooperation from Japan on the provision to third countries of the Standard Missile-3 Block 2A, a next-generation sea-based missile interceptor jointly developed by Japan and the United States.

"It makes economic sense to make it available to others," Gates said.

Kitazawa said the government hopes to make a decision by the end of the year.

Text Fwd:[Hankyoreh Editorial] Problems with a South Korea-Japan military pact

Hankyoreh
Jan. 11, 2011
[Editorial] Problems with a South Korea-Japan military pact


Yesterday, the defense ministers of South Korea and Japan held a meeting in Seoul where they reportedly exchanged opinions on establishing a pact for intelligence protection and mutual munitions support between the South Korean armed forces and Japan’s Self-Defense Forces. It was reported that the talks went no further than a basic gathering of each other’s views. In any event, discussions toward a military pact between the two countries have officially begun.

A military pact between South Korea and Japan is problematic first and foremost because it legitimizes Japanese military expansion. Tokyo has been striving for some time to broaden the range of activity for the JSDF. In 1999, it enacted the Surrounding Situation Act, and has recently been mulling over an amendment of the law in connection with collective self-defense rights. The attempt to form a military pact with South Korea is part of this current. For example, the proposed agreement on munitions support would allow the two countries’ armed forces to loan out food, water, and fuel during times of emergency. Naturally, this would bolster the expansion of the range of JSDF activity. The account from the South Korean Ministry of National Defense suggests that this would be limited to working-level cooperation between the two nations’ militaries, but the issue is not that simple.

Moreover, Japan has recently been inquiring about dispatching forces to the Korean Peninsula in a time of emergency. Some time ago, Prime Minister Naoto Kan raised the possibility of the JSDF operating in North Korea and South Korea, on the pretext of rescuing Japanese refugees and abduction victims. At this point, our country should have grilled Japan on its true intentions at yesterday’s talks and strongly demanded that the misguided notion be withdrawn. Far from responding resolutely, however, the defense minister was reported to have discussed the military agreement in an unperturbed manner. It leaves remaining questions about South Korea’s basic approach to the situation.

There are also major concerns that military cooperation between South Korea and Japan will further develop the New Cold War structure taking shape in Northeast Asia. To date, the United States has been in the middle urging stronger military cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo, and Japan has actively welcomed this. The reason for this is that the strategic interests of those two countries coincide in their intent to curb Beijing. The objections from China have been considerable, with the government-run Global Times expressing concern about the possibility of this developing into a South Korea-Japan military alliance. It is not at all a desirable outcome for us if military cooperation with the United States and Japan leads to stronger military cooperation among North Korea, China, and Russia and the Korean Peninsula becomes a stage for confrontation between these two sets of forces. Moreover, now is a time when we need to look forward to a constructive role from China toward peace on the peninsula.

A military pact between South Korea and Japan is not something that can be worked out by adjusting the level or the speed of pursuit. Even discussing the matter is undesirable, as it could breed tensions on the peninsula. We look forward to the end of these rash discussions on a military pact.

　Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

Text Fwd: [Rick Rozoff] U.S. Recruits Japan As Global Military Partner

* Image source: same as the link

* Text informed by Rick Rozoff and Corazon Valdez Fabros on Jan. 12, 2011

Rick Rozoff blog
U.S. Recruits Japan As Global Military Partner
Stop NATO
January 12, 2011
Rick Rozoff

During the preceding week the U.S.’s top military officer identified Asia as the central focus of the Pentagon’s attention in the world, U.S. warships joined Japanese counterparts in military maneuvers in the East China Sea for the second time in a month, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in East Asia on a trip that began in China and will end in Japan and South Korea on January 14.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara at the State Department on January 6 after summoning him and South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan to Foggy Bottom a month earlier and holding a joint press conference with Maehara in Hawaii in late October. Following the last-named event, Clinton toured the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and met with Admiral Robert Willard, head of U.S. Pacific Command, before embarking on a trip to the Asia-Pacific region that took her to Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia from October 27 to November 8. In the last two countries she renewed, strengthened and expanded military ties with her hosts. [1]

Clinton’s meetings with her Japanese and South Korean opposite numbers, dealing in large part as they did with the conflict on the Korean Peninsula, intentionally – indeed brazenly – circumvented the six-party talks format which also includes North Korea, China and Russia. On October 27 she assured the Japanese foreign minister the U.S. viewed the Chinese-Japanese dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu island chain as covered by the Article 5 military assistance clause of the 1960 U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, and five days later her spokesman Philip Crowley referred to Russia’s South Kuril Islands as the Northern Territories, the term used by Japan, which lays claims to them. [2]

During the recent Clinton-Maehara meeting, the participants “agreed to boost security cooperation” and announced that “the goals for cooperation will be revealed during Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s visit to the U.S. in spring.” [3]

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen visited the capitals of South Korea and Japan on December 8 and 9 where he campaigned for both a tighter and deeper trilateral military partnership with his hosts and the forging of a Japanese-South Korean defense alliance. He advocated that South Korea and Japan accelerate that cooperation without being “hung up on what’s happened in the past,” a reference to the hundredth anniversary of Japan’s post-invasion annexation of Korea in 1910. He also “proposed joint military drills among South Korea, Japan and the U.S….” [4]

At the beginning of this month the Japanese foreign minister affirmed his nation’s commitment to forming the first military links between Japan and South Korea, stating: “We hope to conclude an alliance with South Korea to ensure security.” [5]

At the same time an official at the South Korean Defense Ministry confirmed Maehara’s assertion in revealing that Seoul and Tokyo intend to sign a defense agreement. “The pact, if signed, will open a new chapter in the development of military relations between South Korea and Japan,” he stated.

The South Korean news source from which the above is extracted added that “the U.S. has been urging the two neighbors to build a stronger military relationship.” [6]

On January 10 the defense ministers of Japan and South Korea, Toshimi Kitazawa and Kim Kwan-jin, met in the South Korean capital to plan “future-oriented” joint military relations and to “start discussing two pacts designed to facilitate their ties.” [7]

The defense chiefs signed a General Security of Military Information Agreement and an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement, the first providing for the pooling of intelligence and the second for exchanging military supplies for so-called peacekeeping missions – which is how Japanese and South Korean troop deployments to Iraq after 2003 and military assistance for the war in Afghanistan (troops from South Korea and ships from Japan) have been characterized – and military exercises.

The efforts of Admiral Mullen, Secretary of State Clinton and Secretary of Defense Gates have borne fruit.

The U.S. has led almost monthly naval war games in East Asia since late last July, when Mullen, Clinton and Gates visited South Korea for the sixtieth anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War, with the last two traveling to the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.

READ MORE

Text Fwd: Military pact sought with South Korea

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참여 연대 논평, 2011년 1월 5일
Commentary by the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Jan. 5, 2011 (currently only Korean is available)
[논평] 일본 자위대 정당화하고 동북아 신냉전 고착화시킬 한일 군사협정 절대 안된다
- 한국 정부가 군사력 사용 부정하는 일본 헌법 9조 무력화 돕는 셈
- 한반도 평화 도움 되지 않는 동북아 신냉전 필연적 불러올 우려
There should be no South Korea-Japan military Pact that would justify the JSDF move and a new cold war in the North East Asia
-It would be like the South Korean government would help the incapacitation of the article 9 of Japan that denies military use
-Concerns are raised that a new cold war that is of no help for the peace in the Korean peninsula might be brought
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* Text sent from Corazon Valdez Fabros on Jan. 5, 2011
Kyodo News
Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011
Military pact sought with South Korea
(The Japan Times: Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011 )

Cooperation eyed on overseas ops
The government plans to pursue a military agreement that ensures reciprocal provision of supplies and services between the Self-Defense Forces and the South Korean military when conducting international cooperative activities, sources said Monday.

Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa is expected to convey the plan for the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement to his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan Jin when he visits next Monday.

Kitazawa is also expected to confirm the need to accelerate bilateral talks to conclude the General Security of Military Information Agreement, the sources said.

Tokyo has acknowledged a growing need to strengthen military cooperation with South Korea, given the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea shelled the South's Yeonpyeong Island near the tense western sea border in November, killing two soldiers and two civilians.

South Korean defense authorities are positive about the Japanese proposal, but diplomatic officials are generally reluctant, given the hostilities lingering from Japan's annexation of Korea in the early 1900s, making it uncertain if talks will proceed smoothly, the sources said.

The ACSA stipulates mutual obligations on sharing food, water, fuel and necessary components as well as cooperation on transportation, maintenance and medical work. Details of operations are defined by each country's laws.

Japan is hoping to seal the ACSA with South Korea in regard to international peacekeeping operations, relief activities and joint drills, the sources said.

Tokyo, however, has yet to decide whether the ACSA will be effective during emergencies on the periphery, such as on the Korean Peninsula, the sources said.

Japan has already formed similar accords with the United States and Australia.

Meanwhile, a GSOMIA between Japan and the United States has been effective since 2007 to prevent information leakage when the two nations share necessary military information, such as technology and coding information, in conducting joint operations or in the case of emergency.

Maehara report denied

SEOUL (Kyodo) Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara is hoping that a security alliance can be struck between Japan and South Korea to counter North Korea, the Maeil Business Newspaper said Monday in a report that was later denied by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

In his New Year's interview with the South Korean economic daily, Maehara said North Korea's military provocations not only threaten the Korean Peninsula but also the stability of all of East Asia.

"I hope Japan will form an alliance with South Korea also in the field of security," Maehara was quoted as saying.

On Monday evening, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement that called on the newspaper to issue a correction on the grounds that Maehara never spoke about a Japan-South Korea security alliance in the interview.

The ministry said he merely stated that one of the themes that will be in focus this year is how both Japan and South Korea will be able to create an atmosphere for serious dialogue with South Korea in the area of security.

Text Fwd: U.S.-Engineered Alliance: Japanese, South Korean DMs To Meet

* Text sent by Rick Rozoff on Jan. 4, 2011

Yonhap News
January 4, 2011
S. Korea, Japan defense chiefs to hold talks in Seoul next week

SEOUL: Defense ministers of South Korea and Japan will hold talks in Seoul next week to strengthen their military ties, including a proposed agreement to protect bilaterally shared military secrets, officials here said Tuesday.

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and his Japanese counterpart Toshimi Kitazawa, who will visit Seoul next Monday, are also expected to discuss North Korea's military provocations and bilateral cooperation on military supplies and services, officials at the South's defense ministry said.

South Korea and Japan held talks for the so-called "General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA)" in the past, but little progress had been made.

However, Seoul and Tokyo "have recently felt the need to sign the agreement"...an official at the South's defense ministry said.
....
"The pact, if signed, will open a new chapter in the development of military relations between South Korea and Japan," he said.

Kim and Kitazawa are also expected to explore concluding another pact, called the "Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement," which would stipulate obligations on sharing military supplies and services such as food, fuel and transportation between the two nations.

Despite their close economic ties, South Korea and Japan have had limited military contact and exchanges, given a legacy of Tokyo's brutal colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945.

[T]he U.S. has been urging the two neighbors to build a stronger military relationship.

On his visit to Seoul after the Yeonpyeong attack, U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen proposed joint military drills among South Korea, Japan and the U.S. to increase deterrence against North Korea.
....

Text Fwd: East Asian Security Framework Planned

Korea Times
02-15-2010 15:24
East Asian Security Framework Planned
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

South Korea, Japan and China are discussing establishing a tripartite security framework this year, Seoul officials said Monday.

Senior defense officials from the three countries will discuss their security and military cooperation in the region on a regular basis, the officials said.

South Korea's Ministry of National Defense (MND) is leading the discussion, following a tripartite summit of leaders from the nations last October in Beijing, they said.

The framework will help build trust between the three militaries as well as resolve pending security issues in the region, including North Korea's nuclear weapons program, said the officials.

This issue was a lead topic during an MND meeting with South Korean diplomatic mission chiefs abroad last week, they added.

"Once the tripartite security framework takes effect, it will help resolve many security issues in the region, including North Korea's nuclear problem and the U.S.-China relationship," a security expert said. "The framework could successfully evolve into a broader security framework for Northeast Asia."

The three East Asian nations have sought closer military partnerships in recent years despite frequent disputes over history and territorial issues.

Earlier this month, a senior U.S. military officer said a trilateral military exercise by the U.S., South Korea and Japan could be conducted in the near future with the three parties sharing the concept for such a drill.

In April last year, Seoul and Tokyo signed a letter of intent on bilateral defense cooperation, the first formal military pact between the two countries.

The letter covers goodwill exchanges of top defense officials and military units from the two nations, exchanges between defense institutes, the institutionalization of joint search-and-rescue operations, reciprocal visits by aircraft and naval ships, and joint international peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.

Since December 2008, South Korea and China have operated military hotlines between their navies and air forces.

The establishment of 24-hour telephone hotlines was agreed upon at talks between the defense chiefs of the two countries in April 2007 in Beijing as part of efforts to build confidence between the two militaries.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr