Japan and South Korea agreed Monday to bolster their security cooperation amid North Korea's nuclear and missile threats as the two countries held their first working-level security talks in Seoul for over five years.
Senior foreign and defense ministry officials of the two sides also agreed to strengthen coordination with the United States over real-time information sharing between the three countries during North Korean missile launches.
The officials also deepened mutual understanding about their countries' security and defense policies, according to Japanese and South Korean press releases.
Their meeting comes amid persisting concerns in South Korea over Japan's goal of developing capabilities to strike targets inside an adversary's territory.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's administration has maintained that there must be prior consultation and consent in situations involving South Korea's national interests.
The security talks were suspended in 2018 after South Korea's Supreme Court ordered Japanese companies to compensate plaintiffs for alleged forced labor during World War II under Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
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