South Korea, Japan and US Conduct Air Drill as Defence Chiefs Meet
It was the first time this year that a U.S. B-52H strategic bomber was deployed to the Korean Peninsula for a drill, conducted to improve deterrence against North Korea's increasing nuclear and missile threats, it said.
The three countries' defence chiefs also held an annual meeting in Seoul on Friday, where they recognised the importance of close trilateral cooperation in addressing security challenges posed by North Korea, in the Indo-Pacific and beyond, the defence ministry said in a statement.
'We're illuminating a future path together, a path where partnerships can evolve through persistent and regular engagement from building capacity to really sharing responsibility,' U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine said in opening remarks before the meeting.
'(North Korea) and China are undergoing an unprecedented military build-up with a clear and unambiguous intent to move forward with their own agendas. We need to be mindful of that,' Caine said.
The three countries have boosted security cooperation in recent years, as tensions have increased stemming from North Korea's military developments and Pyongyang's deepening military ties with Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's scheduled visit to North Korea starting on Friday is the latest high-level meeting between the two countries amid a dramatic upgrading of their strategic cooperation that now includes a mutual defence pact.
Russian news agency RIA reported that the Russian foreign ministry is looking into when North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un might visit Russia although Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said there were no immediate plans for a visit by either of the leaders from the two countries.
Caine, South Korea's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Kim Myung-soo and Japanese Chief of Staff Yoshihide Yoshida 'discussed the deployment' of North Korean troops to Russia, their joint statement said.
South Korean intelligence service has said North Korea may be preparing to deploy additional troops in July or August, after sending more than 10,000 soldiers to fight with Russia in the war against Ukraine.
North Korea has agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia's conflict-hit Kursk region.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
18 minutes ago
- Japan Today
Japanese woman injured in subway station attack in China
Photo shows the subway station thought to be where a Japanese woman was attacked in Suzhou, eastern China, on Aug. 1, 2025. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo A Japanese woman was assaulted while walking with her child at a subway station in Suzhou, eastern China, sustaining a non-life-threatening injury, the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai and sources familiar with bilateral relations said Friday. Chinese authorities detained a suspect allegedly involved in the Thursday evening incident in Suzhou, the same city in Jiangsu Province where a Japanese mother and child were injured and a Chinese woman was killed in a knife attack in June last year. The Japanese government urged China to prevent similar incidents and ensure the safety of Japanese nationals. In the latest incident, the Japanese national was struck with a hard object and was treated at a hospital, according to the Japanese consulate general. It was not immediately clear what led to the attack on Thursday. An informed source said the attack reportedly occurred after the woman and child got off the subway train and the child tried to go to the restroom. With this year marking the 80th anniversary of what China calls its victory in the 1937-1945 War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing has warned citizens of rising anti-Japan sentiment. On Sept. 3, China plans to hold a military parade in the capital's Tiananmen Square to commemorate the war anniversary. The consulate general also urged Japanese expatriates in China to remain vigilant when going out, especially when accompanied by children, and to watch for suspicious individuals. A mother whose child attends a Japanese school in Suzhou said, "Parents are all shocked. I will avoid going out with my child." The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it will take effective measures to ensure the safety of foreigners. The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China said in a statement Friday that it is "extremely regrettable" that the latest incident occurred following the knife attack in Suzhou and the fatal stabbing of a 10-year-old Japanese boy in Shenzhen in September. A Chinese film on the massacre in Nanjing committed by Japanese troops in 1937 hit screens on July 25, with more than 28 million people viewing it in a week, according to Chinese media. The Shenzhen stabbing incident occurred on Sept. 18 last year, the 93rd anniversary of the Japanese bombing of a railroad track near Shenyang -- an event that marked the start of the Manchurian Incident, leading to Japan's invasion of northeastern China. © KYODO
Yomiuri Shimbun
an hour ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Rapp-Hooper: Like-Minded Countries Show Resilience Despite U.S. Unpredictability; No More Important U.S. Ally Than Japan
The tariff measures of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump have revealed that being a privileged U.S. security partner does not necessarily mean being a privileged economic partner, former Director for Indo-Pacific Strategy of the U.S. National Security Council Mira Rapp-Hooper said in a recent interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun. The following is excerpted from the interview, which was conducted by Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent Yuko Mukai. *** I'm very relieved that the United States and Japan were able to conclude a trade negotiation after intensive engagements over the last many months. Japan is a critical ally to the United States and a critical economic partner, and having trade issues remain an irritant would have placed downward pressure on the totality of the relationship. We calculated that the LDP's setback [in the House of Councillors election on July 20] would actually make a trade deal more difficult in the coming days, but the fact that a trade deal was reached is testimony to the fact that both sides had done a good job of preparing for that moment of opportunity when it came. The critical piece, as I understand, is that the Trump administration finally demonstrated flexibility on auto tariffs, which up until that point, it had not done, and the Japanese government was then able to grant a little bit of flexibility on rice imports under the existing quota, which was something that mattered a lot to the Trump administration. I also think that elements of this trade deal recognize the critical role that Japan already plays in the U.S. economy, such as as a driver of high quality investment. I think there's no doubt that the tariff policy has impacted public opinion of the United States, in Japan and around the world, especially in allied countries. Part of what is being captured in that public opinion is, for allied countries, typically American security commitments and American economic commitments, openness to trade, have traveled together. So, part of what was demonstrated in the April 2nd tariffs was the fact that just because you are a privileged U.S. security partner did not mean you would be a privileged U.S. economic partner. The era that we knew as the post-Cold War era has come to an end, and we are at a moment of significant flux in which we don't exactly know how we will define the international order that is coming next. We are headed into a world that is much more multipolar. In that world, the United States is still extremely powerful, but it has competition when it comes to the exercise of its power on the global stage, and power is much more diffused than it has been in any time in recent memory. President Trump is playing the role of an accelerant, or an accelerator, on these trends towards multipolarity. Obviously, China is going to be extremely powerful. So too do we expect economies like India to keep growing at a significant rate. It is very hard to know after three more years of Donald Trump's presidency, where exactly this will all leave us. What is clear is that the United States is not going to be able to go back into the exact same leadership position that [it] has occupied during the post-Cold War period. It's going to need to adjust itself come 2029, once President Trump is no longer president, to a changed set of global circumstances. That certainly means finding a way to renew its relationships with key allies, because those are such an essential part of American power. And I think you even saw over the course of [former U.S.] President [Joe] Biden's four years, the challenges sort of piling up in ways that tested the United States' ability to do everything it wanted to do on the global stage. Just a year into the administration, Russia invaded Ukraine. In 2023, you saw another horrible attack on Oct. 7 that plunged the Middle East into conflict, Americans have demonstrated, in their public opinion over the course of the last couple of decades, increasing disaffection with American involvement in faraway, long-lasting wars, and have some skepticism about vast expenditure overseas, if they think those same dollars could be used at home. I think one of the really critical charges for whomever the next U.S. president will be, whether they be a Democrat or a more mainstream Republican, will be to think about how to link our foreign policy objectives on the global stage to a rhetoric and a narrative capability that actually works for the American people. Part of the beauty of what the United States built with Japan and other regional partners over recent years is that those networks of alliances and partnerships in the Indo Pacific and in Europe have actually created resilience amongst allies and partners that they can draw upon now. So whether it's Japan's leadership in the Quad [a cooperation framework among Japan, the United States, Australia and India], the U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateral, Japan's relationships with India, Australia, Vietnam individually, or the fact that Japan has forged much stronger ties with NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] allies, these are all basically like-minded countries that came together because they agreed they had a common set of strategic objectives in the world at a moment where the United States may feel more unpredictable, a little bit less reliable in its day to day interactions. It is highly likely that wherever the United States winds up three years from now, we are still living in a world where Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree that Asia is the priority theater for the future and that there is no more important ally in Rapp-Hooper Mira Rapp-Hooper served as director for Indo-Pacific strategy of the U.S. National Security Council under the administration led by former U.S. President Joe Biden. She joined the administration after working on Hillary Clinton's U.S. presidential election campaign. Rapp-Hooper holds a doctorate from Columbia University. She is a partner at The Asia Group, a consulting firm led by former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.
Nikkei Asia
7 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
South Korean stocks dive nearly 4% following US trade deal
South Korean stocks have been trading at high levels, fueled by optimism toward new President Lee Jae Myung's promises of stock market reforms. © Reuters LISA KIM and JADA NAGUMO TOKYO -- South Korean stocks fell sharply on Friday, recording their biggest percentage decline in four months due to investor concerns about the downsides of the country's trade deal with the U.S. and disappointment over a domestic tax reform plan. The benchmark KOSPI extended its losses from the previous day and closed down 3.9%, marking its biggest pullback since April 7. Big tech names tumbled, led by SK Hynix's over 5% drop. Samsung Electronics and LG Energy Solution also ended the day lower.
