Seoul [South Korea], January 31 (ANI): South Korea and Japan have agreed to renew their bilateral naval search and rescue train for the primary time in 9 years as a part of efforts to advertise army trade, Seoul’s defence ministry mentioned as reported by the nation’s state media.
South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back and his Japanese counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, held talks within the Japanese port metropolis of Yokosuka on Friday.
‘Both ministers concurred on activating personnel and unit trade to spice up mutual understanding and belief between the South Korean army and the Japanese Self-Defence Force,’ a joint press launch cited by Yonhap mentioned.
The two ministers agreed to discover methods of cooperation in areas starting from synthetic intelligence to area to advance their defence relations in a ‘mutually useful and future-oriented’ course.
South Korea and Japan final held the maritime workouts in 2017. The drills have been stalled amid a collection of incidents dampening their ties, resembling a row over Japan’s plan to hoist the Rising Sun Flag, a controversial flag considered symbolic of its previous imperialism, on its vessel throughout a 2018 fleet evaluation in South Korea.
Ahn and Koizumi final held bilateral talks in November final yr on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Kuala Lumpur.
The assembly between the 2 US allies comes amid rising safety threats from China and North Korea.
Ties between Tokyao and Bejing had deteriorated since late final yr following Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks through which she advised {that a} Chinese assault on Taiwan could possibly be thought of a ‘survival-threatening state of affairs,’ which might allow Japan to take army motion.
Beijing considers Taiwan as its personal territory and maintains its proper to take management of the island sooner or later, together with by pressure.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met with South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung in Nara, Japan. The discussions centred round vary of points from industrial provide chains and synthetic intelligence to denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and cooperation with the United States, CNN had reported.
Also, US Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, Elbridge A Colby, had visited South Korea and Japan this week. (ANI)