Japan and South Korea have made a significant move towards restoring bilateral defense and security cooperation by agreeing to resume defense exchanges and implement measures to prevent incidents like the 2018 radar incident. During a meeting at the Shangri-La Dialogue regional security conference in Singapore, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik decided to reinvigorate dialogue between their defense authorities.
The two countries have set aside long-standing political differences to focus on mutual security concerns, with plans to hold annual vice-ministerial defense talks, restart working-level defense dialogues, and restore high-level exchanges between the Self-Defense Forces and the South Korean military.