S. Korea, Japan, Australia hold trilateral talks to discuss security, cooperation

Senior defense officials of South Korea, Japan and Australia held trilateral talks Sunday to discuss the regional security situation and ways to strengthen their cooperation, the South's defense ministry said, Azernews reports, citing Yonhap.

Deputy defense minister for policy Cho Chang-rae and his Japanese and Australian counterparts; Taro Yamato, director general for defense policy and Hugh Jeffrey, deputy secretary of strategy, policy and industry, met on the sidelines of the of the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual defense forum held in Singapore.

Last year, the three countries held their first-ever meeting of defense ministers on the occasion of the security forum held in the city-state. This year, Cho attended the gathering instead of acting Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho who skipped it ahead of the June 3 presidential election.

In addition to the trilateral meeting, Cho held a series of bilateral meetings with senior defense officials from Canada, Japan, the Philippines, Poland and Singapore, to discuss defense and arms industry cooperation, according to the ministry.

Cho and Yamato, the Japanese defense official, reaffirmed the importance of their bilateral and trilateral security cooperation with the United States, in the face of North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats and deepening military cooperation with Russia.

In talks with Polish deputy defense minister Pawel Zalewski on Saturday, both sides touted their arms industry cooperation involving exports of the K9 self-propelled howitzer and agree to closely cooperate on expanding their defense exchange and cooperation, the ministry said.