hankyoreh

the United States and Japan -- Adm. Choi Yun-hee

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairmen of South Korea, the US, and Japan met in Hawaii on July 1 to discuss the North Korean nuclear program, among other issues.

Choi Yoon-hee of South Korea and Martin Dempsey of the US, along with Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff Council Chief of Staff Shigeru Iwasaki, issued a joint press release after their meeting.

“The three JCS chairmen . . . discussed the change of regional security circumstances including North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and exchanged opinions on how to achieve regional stability and to boost peace,” the release said.

The first-ever meeting by the three countries’ JCS chairmen was first proposed by the US. As a symbolic show of military and security cooperation against the growing Chinese role in the region, it drew particular notice in coming on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to South Korea, and after the Japanese Cabinet’s decision to grant the authority to exercise collective self-defense.

The South Korean JCS issued its own statement after the meeting, explaining that Choi “clearly stated at the meeting that any exercise of collective self-defense by Japan that has an effect within the operational zone of the Korean Peninsula cannot be carried out without permission being requested and received from South Korea.”

“The US and Japan agreed to this,” the statement added.

On the question of whether the meetings will become a regular event, Choi said this would “require a fundamental change in Japan’s historical perceptions,” the JCS reported.

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