The chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will hold a video conference next month as the three countries seek ways to reinforce trilateral security cooperation in the wake of North Korea’s fourth nuclear test, officials here said Monday.

The three countries have been exploring diplomatic and military steps to punish Pyongyang over the latest provocation on Jan. 6, while coordinating their readiness against a possible additional provocation and its countermeasures.

“We’re in working-level consultations to hold a meeting of JCS chairmen within next month,” Seoul’s JCS spokesman Jeon Ha-kyu said at a news briefing.

“Given the current crisis, we’re pursuing a video meeting for the time being, and looking into other details on the method and timing.”

With Seoul and Washington looking to set up a real-time intelligence-sharing scheme, Seoul’s Defense Ministry dismissed speculation that the move would lead to South Korea’s de facto participation in the U.S. global missile defense system.

The Defense Ministry here last week introduced plans to connect its interface control center with that of the U.S., both installed at Osan air base here, through the “Link-16” system that allows real-time data sharing. 


With Washington being the middleman, the three partners are expected to spur their security partnerships, in particular bolstered by the recent settlement by Seoul and Tokyo on the sex slavery dispute that has long been a hurdle for greater cooperation. The three nations clinched a trilateral intelligence-sharing arrangement in December 2014.

“The fact that two sides share intelligence does not mean that we act according to the U.S. MD (missile defense) system,” Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said during the briefing. 

“The to-be-exchanged information is confined to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and thus does not portend our MD participation.”

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)