Key facts
- South Korea and Japan defense ministers met in Seoul to deepen bilateral defense cooperation.
- Ministers agreed to expand cooperation, including in AI and unmanned systems.
- Commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula reaffirmed.
- Joint search-and-rescue drills to be revived.
- Cooperation between aerobatic teams to be advanced.
South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back and his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi met in Seoul on Sunday, reaffirming their commitment to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and agreeing to revive joint search-and-rescue drills, signaling a step forward for security ties. The ministers agreed to work on regional stability bilaterally and through their partnership with Washington.
Both ministers shared the view to continue cooperation for maintaining regional peace and stability amid a grave security environment. South Korea and Japan, with U.S. encouragement, have been working to develop closer ties since 2022, continuing a policy under President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. In 2019, Seoul moved to end the GSOMIA intelligence-sharing pact with Japan after Tokyo restricted exports of semiconductor materials and removed South Korea from its preferential trade list.
In 2025, Japan's then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and President Lee agreed to closer security and economic ties. The defence ministers committed to working with Washington against North Korea's nuclear threat and Pyongyang's growing military ties with Russia, including cooperation on AI and unmanned systems and annual trilateral drills. Takaichi and Lee agreed in January 2026 to deepen shuttle diplomacy and in May expanded cooperation on energy.
Ahn and Koizumi also agreed to continue fostering exchange between their air forces' respective aerobatic teams, South Korea’s Black Eagles and Japan’s Blue Impulse, to further advance search-and-rescue exercises designed for various maritime accident scenarios. The two previously held talks in Japan in January and met again in May at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore where they discussed a possible military-logistics support agreement covering fuel, food and ammunition. The two sides also agreed to hold a joint humanitarian search-and-rescue exercise in June, the first in almost a decade.
Tensions remain, including lingering disputes over Korean women forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War Two. In February, Seoul protested against a Japanese government event commemorating a cluster of disputed islands known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, which controls the territory.