But a joint statement issued after the meeting of the three leaders did not mention their commitment to the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” as agreed at the previous summit in December 2019 in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu.

At a joint press announcement with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Chinese Premier Li Qiang following the gathering in Seoul, Kishida said that stability on the Korean Peninsula is in the “common interest” of the three Asian countries.

The statement only said, “We reiterated positions on regional peace and stability, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the abductions issue, respectively. We agree to continue to make positive efforts for the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue.”

North Korea said Monday it “strongly denounces and rejects” the joint declaration as “a blatant challenge” to the nation’s sovereignty and “wanton interference in its internal affairs,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry criticized South Korea in a statement carried by KCNA, saying Seoul has brought a “grave security crisis” to the Korean Peninsula “by frantically strengthening military alliance for aggression with hegemonic forces outside the region,” referring to the United States.

The trilateral summit took place with the regional security environment becoming more severe amid nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, which has been bolstering its economic and military ties with China.

The Japanese government said earlier Monday that North Korea has notified Tokyo of its plan to launch a satellite-carrying rocket before June 4. The launch might involve the use of ballistic missile technology, a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

At the outset of the trilateral summit, Kishida urged North Korea to cancel its planned satellite launch, with Yoon, the chair of the meeting, saying it would endanger regional and global peace and stability.

Li, who took office in March 2023, did not touch on the issue, saying only that the role of China, Japan and South Korea is “to promote development, boost cooperation in East Asia and safeguard peace and prosperity in the region and the world.”

The statement also said, “We reaffirmed our commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and to an international order based on the rule of law and international law,” apparently targeting Russia.

The phrase might have been added to the statement as requested by Japan and South Korea despite opposition from China, effectively ruled solely by the Communist Party, as Tokyo and Seoul share common values such as freedom, democracy, and human rights, pundits said.

China has been trying to deepen relations with North Korea and Russia, while Japan and South Korea have been strengthening security cooperation, criticizing Beijing’s increasing military assertiveness and Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

On Monday, the leaders of Japan, South Korea and China agreed to work together in a wide range of fields, including people-to-people exchanges and economic cooperation, at their first trilateral summit in more than four years.

On the economic front, the three leaders pledged to speed up negotiations toward the signing of a three-way free trade agreement, which stalled in early 2020 against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the joint statement showed.

Kishida, Yoon and Li also reaffirmed that they will join hands to enhance supply chains that are vulnerable to geopolitical tensions, natural disasters and epidemics, causing disruptions in production and business operations.

Nevertheless, the outlook for trade and economic talks is gloomy as it is uncertain how much China will satisfy Japan’s demands to rectify Beijing’s alleged unfair business practices, such as strict information regulations and opaque benefits to state-owned companies.

In principle, the Asian countries hold trilateral summits annually on a rotating basis, but they have occasionally been suspended as Japan’s ties with its two neighbors have soured over historical and territorial disputes.

Recently, Tokyo and Beijing have been at odds over trade after China imposed a blanket ban on Japanese seafood imports in the wake of the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that began in August 2023.

At their bilateral meeting on Sunday, Kishida asked Li for an immediate lifting of the import ban. But Li expressed Beijing’s anxiety about the discharge, referring to the water as “nuclear-contaminated,” according to Chinese state-run media.

Last week, meanwhile, China carried out two-day military drills around Taiwan, arguing that they are a “strong punishment” for those seeking the island’s independence and a “stern warning” to “external forces” against interference and provocation.

The military exercises followed last Monday’s inauguration of Taiwan’s new President Lai Ching-te, whom China condemns as a separatist. He is the leader of the ruling, independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.

Kishida said Sunday that he conveyed Japan’s “serious concern” about China’s expanding military activities, emphasizing that Tokyo believes stability in the Taiwan Strait is “crucial” not only for the region but also for the international community.

China’s Foreign Ministry, however, said Li told Kishida that Taiwan is at the “core” of Beijing’s interests and a “red line” that must not be crossed.

The joint statement released after the trilateral summit on Monday did not refer to Taiwan.

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The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the suspected satellite-carrying rocket being launched in a southward direction over the West Sea from the Tongchang-ri area in the country’s northwest at about 10:44 p.m.

The projectile, however, was detected as multiple pieces of debris in the country’s waters two minutes later, the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters, noting that a detailed analysis is under way between the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States about whether the projectile flew normally.

Pyongyang had earlier notified Japan that it will launch a satellite sometime before June 4 and designated three areas, where rocket debris will fall, as a precaution for safety. The liftoff came on the first day of the eight-day launch window.

The launch also came after President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang held a trilateral summit in Seoul on Monday and reaffirmed their commitment to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.

During the summit, Yoon and Kishida also urged the North to call off the launch plan.

If confirmed, it would mark the North’s latest satellite launch attempt after the country successfully put its first military spy satellite into orbit in November last year after two unsuccessful attempts in May and August, respectively.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to send three more spy satellites into orbit in 2024.

The North’s space rocket launches have drawn condemnation from Seoul, Washington and others, as they violate U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from launches using ballistic missile technology.

Ahead of the latest launch, the South’s military on Monday warned it would take “powerful” measures in response to the North’s launch plan and staged air drills, involving advanced fighter jets, near the inter-Korean border in a show of force.

The November launch had ratcheted up tensions between the two Koreas and prompted the South to partially suspend a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement.

The North in turn vowed to restore all measures halted under the peace deal, and has rebuilt demolished guard posts inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas and installed mines on rare cross-border roads.

The latest launch also comes amid concerns over deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow after a rare summit between the North’s leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Russian spaceport last September, where Putin pledged to help the North to build satellites.

South Korean officials have said Pyongyang has supplied weapons to Moscow to fuel its war on Ukraine in return for food, other necessities and technological assistance, raising concern over possible developments to the North’s military programs.

A military spy satellite is among the list of advanced weapons the North vowed to develop at a key party congress in 2021, which also includes solid-fuel ICBMs, a nuclear-powered submarine and hypersonic weapons.

South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, however, has said the North’s satellite launched last year appears to be orbiting Earth without activity, suggesting that it is not functioning properly.

Seoul has also sought to bolster its independent reconnaissance capabilities, launching two military satellites into orbit last December and last month, respectively, as part of efforts to acquire five spy satellites by 2025 to better monitor North Korea. (Yonhap)

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“There are chances for North Korea to stage various provocations on the occasion of (the allies’) combined training and major elections in South Korea and the U.S., in order to set up a strategic environment advantageous to the regime,” Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said during a forum in Seoul.

Shin was referring to the Freedom Shield exercise which kicked off on the same day for an 11-day run. It is a computer-simulated, defense-oriented command post exercise event, but the allies have also been conducting various types of field drills during the period.

During this year’s Freedom Shield, the allies will conduct 48 rounds of on-field drills, which is more than double those of last year’s edition. Also, training for tracking and intercepting North Korean cruise missiles is included in this year’s program, given that Pyongyang has already launched cruise missiles five times this year. It remains uncertain whether the U.S. will deploy strategic assets such as bombers or nuclear submarines during the period.

The North detests the Freedom Shield exercise, claiming it is “practice for war against the North.”

When the allies held the exercise last year, the North said “the U.S. and South Korea are explicitly showcasing their attempt at military dominance on the Korean Peninsula, and North Korea will respond to it, if the U.S. chooses to show its force.”

The possibilities of North Korea’s provocations during the Freedom Shield period are higher this year, because the two Koreas have virtually scrapped their 2018 Comprehensive Military Agreement aimed at completely ceasing all hostile acts against each other, including military trainings targeting each other in border areas.

During his speech, Shin stated that he and his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, reaffirmed the rock-solid alliance between Seoul and Washington in a phone call last week.

“South Korea and the U.S. are striving for peace through strength based on a robust combined defense posture,” Shin said. “Through the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) between the two countries, the allies will complete comprehensive extended deterrence by the first half of this year.”

During the second NCG between Seoul and Washington in December, the two countries agreed to conduct exercises based on a scenario of a nuclear attack by the North. This will not be included in the ongoing Freedom Shield training, but likely to be included in the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise in August.

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At an extraordinary Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said North Korea’s latest provocation ― and violation of the agreement ― shows it has no intention to comply with it.

“A partial suspension of the agreement is a necessary measure for national security and the minimum action for self-defense,” he said after endorsing the proposal. It was subsequently approved in less than an hour by President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is on a state visit to Britain.

North Korea said it placed its first reconnaissance satellite in orbit on Tuesday and vowed to launch more in the near future, despite South Korea’s warning that such obvious violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions could lead to the official suspension of the military accord.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed later that day that the North Korean satellite entered orbit successfully. However the military advisory group said it would require further analysis to determine whether it can function as a reconnaissance satellite.

“North Korea’s launch of a so-called military reconnaissance satellite, whether it succeeds or not, chiefly aims to develop surveillance capabilities and the performance of its intercontinental ballistic missile in a (broader) effort to materialize its nuclear and missile threats,” Yoon said at a National Security Council meeting, according to the presidential office.

In a statement, the council said the military accord, inked by the previous Moon Jae-in administration on Sept. 9, 2018, amid a thaw in relations, has virtually been nullified by repeated violations by North Korea ― nearly 3,600 times, according to military officials.

The government decision immediately suspended the effectiveness of Article 1, Clause 3 of the agreement, under which the militaries of South Korea and the North should abide by no-fly zones established close to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

South Korea’s military said it will resume aerial surveillance and exercises involving aircraft, including drones, in border areas without specifying a date.

“A helicopter carrying a commander had to land before reaching the no-fly zones, where the commander should move around by car, say, to inspect frontline bases,” a high-ranking official at the Ministry of National Defense told reporters. “With the no-fly zones suspended, our military assets in the air can now conduct exercises to their full capacity near the border areas.”

On the same day, the nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan ― Kim Gunn, Jung Pak and Hiroyuki Namazu, respectively ― spoke by phone and strongly condemned the latest provocation by North Korea.

“They also expressed deep concern that the North carried out a deceptive launch, as it came more than an hour before the time it had previously announced, seriously jeopardizing the safety of planes and vessels this time again,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul said in a statement.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned Pyongyang for carrying out a military satellite launch using ballistic missile technology.

“Any launch by the DPRK (North Korea) using ballistic missile technology goes against relevant Security Council resolutions,” the statement said. “The Secretary-General reiterates his call on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to fully comply with its international obligations under all relevant Security Council resolutions.”

According to military officials, South Korea is now in talks with the U.S. and Japan to conduct joint maritime drills possibly involving key strategic assets in the coming days.

On Wednesday, The USS Santa Fe (SSN-763), a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarine, arrived at Jeju Naval Base, joining the USS Carl Vinson, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that docked in Busan the previous day.

“We’re in consultations to conduct combined South Korea-U.S., and South Korea-U.S.-Japan maritime exercises in the southern waters of the Korean Peninsula this weekend,” an official said.

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has aimed for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but apparently no progress has been made, the sources said. The two nations have no diplomatic ties.

Regarding media reports that Japanese officials contacted the North Korean side in March and May, Kishida told reporters Friday that he would “refrain from making comments due to the nature of the matter.”

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, who doubles as minister in charge of the abduction issue, similarly did not clarify its veracity during their separate press conferences on Friday.

The issue of North Korea’s abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s has become increasingly pressing, given that many of the family members of those missing are aging.

At an event in Tokyo in May seeking the return of Japanese abductees, Kishida expressed his eagerness to meet with Kim to settle the issue and pledged to set up high-level bilateral negotiations with North Korea under his “direct control.”

A Japanese diplomatic source said, “It’s a rule not to say what actually happened,” implying there was some type of contact between the two countries.

The Japanese government has officially identified 17 of its citizens as having been abducted by North Korean agents and suspects Pyongyang was involved in many more disappearances.

In September 2002, then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Pyongyang and signed a historic declaration with Kim’s father and then-leader Kim Jong Il.

Under the Pyongyang Declaration, the two Asian countries agreed to make “every possible effort for an early normalization of relations,” while Japan vowed to extend economic cooperation to North Korea after the normalization of ties.

Koizumi also drew North Korea’s first formal apology for the abductions and five abductees were brought back to Japan in the following month.

Japan continues to seek the return of the remaining 12 abductees.

But North Korea has maintained that the abduction issue has been settled, and the challenge of setting up talks to resolve the abduction issue is seen increasing due to changes in the regional security environment.

In August, Kishida confirmed at a trilateral summit with the United States and South Korea that they would strengthen security cooperation, with North Korea and China in mind.

North Korea has aligned with China in its criticism of Japan’s release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. It has also aligned with Russia, whose relations with Japan have soured following its war on Ukraine.

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The country has decided to “adjust the anti-epidemic degree in reference to the eased worldwide pandemic situation,” according to the State Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters.

The announcement, reported by state media outlet KCNA on Sunday, comes months after most other Asian countries relaxed the last of their coronavirus-era restrictions.

China, which had long operated one of the region’s toughest Covid regimes, abandoned its zero-tolerance approach in December 2022.

Recent moves by North Korea, which closed its borders in early 2020 in response to the pandemic, have signaled that the country is reopening, but Pyongyang will still require even returning citizens to quarantine on arrival.

“Those who return will be put under proper medical observation at quarantine wards for a week,” it said in the announcement.

The news comes after a North Korean flight from Pyongyang arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, in what was the first known international commercial flight to leave North Korea since January 2020.

Flights between North Korea and Russia are also set to resume, with four flights between Pyongyang and Vladivostok this month.

Also this past week, about a hundred North Korean Taekwondo athletes arrived in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, to compete in the 22nd International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) World Championship in what is believed to be the first overseas trip taken by a North Korean sports team since restrictions were imposed in the country in 2020.

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Dozens of North Korean soldiers were embroiled recently in a violent dispute with health authorities in the reclusive state, according to a defector.

Citing a source, Lee Ae-ran, an expert in North Korean cuisine, who became the first defector to earn a doctoral degree in the South, said that the deadly clash occurred as the soldiers took collective action against North Korean authorities, which is a rare occurrence in the totalitarian state.

According to Lee, the soldiers arrived in Pyongyang early to prepare for a military parade scheduled for July 27 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement that halted fighting in the Korean War.

“Some of them had the flu and were separated from other soldiers for social distancing purposes. After they recovered, the soldiers were ordered to go back to their units against their will,” she told The Korea Times in a telephone interview, Friday. “All of the soldiers who participate in the military parade are supposed to get special gifts from Kim Jong-un. The soldiers were upset when they were kicked out and headed directly to the health authorities to confront their decision to send them back to their military units.”

Security personnel guarding the health authorities deterred the rebellious soldiers triggering a clash, which led to some soldiers getting killed.

“In North Korea, challenging the authorities is an unthinkable act,” Lee said. “Collective action, committed by soldiers in particular, is deemed as a serious threat to the regime, because soldiers are the ones who are allowed to be armed. The North Korean regime took the case very seriously because of that.”

Lee said she recently heard numerous accounts of violence involving soldiers, including cases of sexual assault on civilians and theft, adding that North Korean residents have been increasingly anxious of such troops, who locals refer to as bandits. She added that what is happening there reminds her of a sequence of ominous events that had occurred in the North before the great famine in the 1990s.

Among other things, Lee said a food shortage was a critical factor that pushed the soldiers to become violent and rebellious.

“When people are starving, isn’t it natural for them to become unruly and harbor resentment toward the government?” she asked.

Her testimony about the violent confrontation involving the soldiers comes as North Korea suffers from an extreme food shortage.

Tim Peters, a Seoul-based American humanitarian activist, said North Korea has been going through severe food shortages since COVID-19.

“My contacts in North Korea confirmed the food situation as very dire, and has been so through the years of the pandemic,” he told The Korea Times.

North Korea has gone through chronic crop shortages for decades.

But this time, activists who are familiar with the North said that the food situation is more severe than in the past. Some said North Korea is experiencing the worst famine since its foundation in 1948.

Peters said COVID-19 dealt a big blow to the impoverished North as an extended border lockdown, which has been in place since May 2020, blocked trade with China.

On top of the pandemic, he added that North Korea’s systemic inefficiencies due to its top-down management of the agricultural sector and the development of weapons of mass destruction are also among other reasons causing the worsening food situation in the North.

He said poor people are suffering the most.

“Food shortages to the most vulnerable in the North have been exacerbated by rising food prices that further puts vital food out of the reach of those who need it desperately,” he said.

Deaths due to starvation are increasing in the North and even in its capital, according to media reports. Previously, Pyongyang was thought to be a relatively affluent part of the country.

In a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Elizabeth Salmon, the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in North Korea, said that about 40 percent of North Koreans are malnourished because of food shortages.

Seo Jae-pyeong, president of the Seoul-based non-profit group, Association for North Korean defectors, said that the food situation in the North is even worse than the Arduous March period in the mid-1990s when a great famine killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Despite the dire food situation, Seo said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is still in control.

“There has been no sign of social unrest whatsoever, because the society is tightly controlled by the Kim regime,” he said. “Even though people died of starvation, their neighbors or families kept their mouths shut about the cause of their deaths because they are not allowed to speak to others about it. Those who breached this rule are sent to prison camps.”

The North Korean regime fabricated the causes of their deaths and told residents that they died because of fever, pneumonia or other diseases, according to Seo.

The great famine of the mid-1990s created drastic social changes in the North, such as the introduction of certain capitalist elements. Markets popped up across the totalitarian country as hungry residents became determined to make a living by selling products smuggled in from China.

It remains to be seen how the latest famine will affect North Korean society. But Lee said that the famine might lead to social unrest or political chaos in the North.

“These days, people are different. North Koreans are no longer obedient to the regime,” she said.

Seo, however, remained cautious about discussing repercussions caused by the famine, such as a groundswell of protest against the North Korean leader.

“This is not the first time North Korea was hit hard by food shortages,” he said.

The famine occurred at a time when rumors about the North Korean leader’s health are rampant.

Based on an estimate, the National Intelligence Service said that Kim is believed to weigh around 140 kilograms.

He is also believed to be suffering from a cardiac-related disease and diabetes. In addition, Kim is rumored to have a kidney problem. At the same time, his children are still too young to ascend to power.

If Kim was to be unable to rule as the nation battles the famine, few know how a possible leadership vacuum could impact the North.

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The North confirmed the failure, saying its new “Chollima-1” rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite, “Malligyong-1,” fell into the sea due to the “abnormal starting of the second-stage engine,” according to its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It plans to conduct a second launch as soon as possible, the KCNA said.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from Tongchang-ri on the North’s west coast at 6:29 a.m. and the projectile fell into waters some 200 kilometers west of the South’s southwestern island of Eocheong following its flight over the waters far west of the border island of Baengnyeong.

The South Korean military identified an apparent part of the North’s vehicle and retrieved it, the JCS added. The part could shed light on the makeup of the rocket and the North’s technological progress, observers said.

The North notified Japan and the International Maritime Organization of its plan earlier this week to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11 despite criticism that it would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any launch using ballistic missile technology.

The recalcitrant regime last launched a rocket carrying what it called a “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite in February 2016.

After the latest launch, the presidential office convened an emergency standing committee session of the National Security Council, which condemned the launch as a “serious provocation” that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the international community.

President Yoon Suk Yeol was immediately briefed on the launch and continued to be updated in real-time, according to his office.

The United States denounced the North’s launch, the White House said, noting President Joe Biden and his security team are assessing the situation in coordination with the allies and partners.

“The United States strongly condemns the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for its launch using ballistic missile technology, which is a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, raises tensions, and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond,” National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement. DPRK is the North’s official name.

In a separate release, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command stressed the “ironclad” security commitment to South Korea and Japan, saying it will continue to monitor the situation.

A group of students on a school trip checks an emergency alert on their smartphones, which urged Seoul residents to take shelter, at Seoul Station in the capital shortly after the Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launch of what it claims to be a “space launch vehicle” southward from Tongchang-ri on the North’s west coast at 6:29 a.m., May 31. Yonhap

An apparent part of a purported North Korean space launch vehicle is seen in waters some 200 kilometers west of the southwestern island of Eocheong, in this photo provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, May 31. Yonhap

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The meeting led by Kim Tok Hun, premier of the cabinet, saw senior officials come up with “various detailed action plans” to ensure stable agricultural production, the report said.

This comes after leader Kim Jong Un urged officials to engineer a “fundamental transformation” in agricultural production during the seventh enlarged plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea last month.

South Korean lawmakers, citing intelligence officials, said earlier this month that the North was facing an annual rice shortage of 800,000 tonnes and that the current food shortage situation was caused by the country’s grain policy, distribution problems and the COVID-19 situation.

A recent United Nations report estimates that 60% of the population in North Korea suffered from food insecurity by the end of 2021 versus 40% prior to the pandemic.

From 2019 to 2021, 41.6 % of the population suffered from malnourishment, the report said.

The isolated country is under strict international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and in recent years its limited border trade was virtually choked off by self-imposed lockdowns aimed at preventing COVID.

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South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters that it detected the missile test ― on a steep trajectory ― from Sunan, a district in Pyongyang, at around 7:10 a.m. It flew about 1,000 kilometers during its 70-minute flight before falling into the East Sea.

North Korea’s latest provocation ― its first ICBM test in a month and third weapons test this week ― comes amid South Korea’s joint military drills with the U.S. and several hours before President Yoon Suk Yeol’s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo.

At a National Security Council meeting, Yoon ordered his top security and military officials to step up the intensity of the exercises, saying North Korea will “certainly pay the price” for its reckless provocations. He then told them to enhance trilateral security cooperation with the U.S. and Japan.

Speaking to reporters in Japan, Kishida also called for close cooperation among “allies and like-minded nations” before his own security meeting.

Later that day, Kim Gunn, the top nuclear negotiator of South Korea, spoke with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts ― Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi ― to reaffirm their combined efforts to counter North Korea’s intensifying threats while voicing united condemnation of the missile test.

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, Thursday. AP-Yonhap

All of this suggests South Korea’s reconciliation with Japan in the area of security and beyond. Although Yoon did not directly address the possibility of normalizing the two countries’ intelligence-sharing pact, known as the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), in his recent interview with Japanese media, he said data-sharing in regard to Pyongyang’s threats is in the interests of both South Korea and Japan. The previous Moon Jae-in administration suspended GSOMIA amid diplomatic tensions over historical issues.

In recent years, North Korea has been trying to diversify its missile-launching platforms and delivery means with the clear aim of undermining South Korea’s detection capabilities. After the latest ICBM launch, concerns have been raised that it might have been a solid-fuel system, which is faster to launch and more difficult to detect ― a possibility under review by South Korea and the U.S.

Some experts believe North Korea’s progress in its weapons development has pushed South Korea to work more closely with Japan, whose military is equipped with advanced spy satellites, radars and submarine-detection technology.

“While South Korea can help Japan detect the early signs of North Korea’s military activities, Japan can share the details of its missiles that fly or fall beyond South Korea’s radar range,” Kim Jung-sup, a security expert at the Sejong Institute, a think tank, told The Korea Times. “But it remains to be seen how much we can ― and should ― gain from security cooperation with Japan. If we strengthen the ties too much and too fast, we risk being dragged deep into the U.S.-led strategy designed to counter China’s growing influence in the region. This could trigger reactions we don’t want, such as strengthening ties between North Korea, China and Russia.”

On Monday, South Korean and U.S. troops started their 11-day Freedom Shield exercise on a scale not seen since 2017. North Korea accused the allies of preparing for war, vowing to take “overwhelming” action against it. Many worry that North Korea could ratchet up tensions further with more weapons tests, possibly its first nuclear test since 2017.

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