Defense Meeting

[Anchor Lead]

The defense chiefs of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan held a national security meeting in Tokyo, where they agreed to bolster military cooperation to counter North Korean threats. They also stressed that China should end its retaliation against South Korea over the deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system.

[Pkg]

Last month, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan held a joint military exercise in the East Sea and in waters off Japan to bolster their capabilities to detect and intercept North Korean ballistic missiles. When the U.S. B-1B strategic bombers made a sally over the Korean Peninsula on multiple occasions, South Korea's Air Force joined them in precision bombing drills. At a national security meeting in Tokyo, the defense chiefs of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan agreed to further intensify joint military exercises, which have proved to be effective in deterring Pyongyang.

[Soundbite] Lee Jin-woo(Vice Spokesperson, Ministry of Defense) : "The three nations have agreed to expand cooperation by sharing information in order to strengthen the deterrence of North Korea's threat and respond effectively in times of war."

The defense chiefs reiterated that the deployment of the U.S. missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula was a self-defense measure aimed at protecting South Korea from North Korea's nuclear and missile threat, and called for Beijing to immediately stop its retaliation. They also urged the involved nations to do their best to solve the fundamental problems that caused the deployment of the missile defense shield. The trilateral meeting was held behind closed doors on Wednesday and lasted for six hours.