US, Japan, South Korea vow to boost trilateral ties amid rising security risks

Tokyo [Japan], July 19 (ANI): Top defence officials from Japan, US and South Korea vowed to boost countries’ trilateral relations and cooperation and achieve peace amid rising security risks from China and North Korea, Nikkei Asia reported.

The officials of three nations stated this when they gathered in Tokyo on Thursday.

Reportedly, the head of Japan’s Defence Ministry Joint Staff, General Yoshihide Yoshida, along with his US counterpart General Charles Brown and South Korean counterpart Admiral Kim Myung Soo, held a defence meeting in Tokyo.

This was the first time Japan was hosting such a meeting of top defence personnel.

In the meeting, the officers agreed to “continue to strengthen trilateral security cooperation to advance peace and security on the Korean Peninsula, in the Indo-Pacific, and beyond,” Nikkei Asia reported, quoting a joint statement released after the trilateral meeting.

The countries have jointly urged North Korea to “cease all destabilising activities immediately”.

While condemning the country’s strengthening relations with Russia, the trio also demanded that North Korea also put a halt to its nuclear programme.

Referring to China’s expansionist and aggressive claims in the Indo-Pacific region and the South China Sea, the three countries opposed all attempts to change the status quo by force.

Prior to this, the chiefs of South Korea and Japan had met a day before to hold similar talks for the first time in nine years.

These top officials will meet again in South Korea next year, Nikkei Asia reported.

Earlier this month, Head of the British government’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Felicity Oswald stressed that China and North Korea are among the world’s most worrisome countries in terms of cybersecurity threats, adding that the evolving Chinese threat should be a cause for worry for everybody, reported Nikkei Asia.

China and North Korea are among the world’s most worrisome countries in terms of cybersecurity threats, but that is not the full extent of the risks, the head of the British government’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said in an interview with the Tokyo-headquartered publication.

Responding to what according to her is an assessment of China’s cyber capabilities and potential risks, she said that they are extremely focused on the cyber threats.