Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., today emphasized the importance of continuing to advance the trilateral defense relationship among the U.S., South Korea and Japan during meetings with his counterparts from the countries in Tokyo.
Brown said the three countries have made long strides in enhancing their security cooperation following the August 2023 Camp David summit and said continued progress is critical amid increasing challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
“We have a responsibility to continue that momentum,” Brown said as he met with Japan’s Gen. Yoshida Yoshihide, chief of staff of the Joint Staff, and South Korean Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chairman of that country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We’ve done well in the course of the past year, and I look forward to the work that we will continue to do together.”
Brown and his counterparts met as part of the Trilateral Chiefs of Defense meeting, a key component of the U.S., South Korea and Japan’s security cooperation dialogue, which also includes separate exchanges between the countries’ defense ministers.
This year’s meeting of defense chiefs was the first time the exchange has been held in Japan.
It followed last summer’s summit with President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, which paved the way for what White House officials called “a new era of trilateral partnership” among the three countries.
The three heads of state agreed to a series of initiatives aimed at strengthening security cooperation through enhanced interoperability, information sharing and coordination. The summit also paved the way for improved cooperation on ballistic missile defense and a multiyear framework for annual, trilateral exercises.
Since the summit, the three countries have made concrete progress in the exchange of real-time, missile-warning data to detect and assess ballistic missiles launched by North Korea.
This summer, the U.S., Japan and South Korea also completed the first iteration of Freedom Edge, a trilateral, multidomain exercise focused on cooperative ballistic missile defense, air defense, antisubmarine warfare, search and rescue, and maritime interdiction.
Today, the defense chiefs stressed that interoperability and cooperation among their forces is essential to upholding the rules-based international order and ensuring a shared vision of peace and security.
The leaders highlighted the challenges posed by China’s increasingly dangerous and aggressive behavior and that country’s attempts to change the status quo by force in the region. The leaders also noted North Korea’s continued development of its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, the leaders said, also continues to pose global security challenges and they noted North Korea’s deepening military ties with Russia raise serious concerns for the stability in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
“In this perspective, it is extremely important for us three nations to demonstrate our strong unity, domestically and globally, to ensure regional peace and stability,” Yoshida said.
During the talks, the defense chiefs exchanged assessments on the regional security situation, reviewed progress on trilateral information sharing, and discussed ways to further deepen security cooperation, according to a summary of the talks.
The leaders pledged to remain in close consultation and continue to collectively advance peace and security in the region and beyond.
“I expect that the three of us sitting here in Tokyo today will send a message to regional threats, but also, more globally, on the strength of our relationship, our alliances and the work that we need to continue to do together,” Brown said.
Brown’s exchange with his counterparts in Japan caps his second visit to the Indo-Pacific as chairman.
