South Korea: Top US military officer calls for trilateral cooperation amid military buildup by North Korea, China

Seoul, July 11 (IANS) The top military officer of the United States stressed the importance of security cooperation among South Korea, the US and Japan to reestablish deterrence against an "unprecedented" military buildup by North Korea and China.

Gen. Dan Caine, the chief of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), made the remark as he attended a trilateral meeting in Seoul with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Adm. Kim Myung-soo and Gen. Yoshihide Yoshida.

"Our focus in the United States remains on reestablishing deterrence and doing so needs and requires the trilateral cooperation between our three countries," Caine said.

"The DPRK and China are undergoing an unprecedented military buildup with a clear and unambiguous intent to move forward with their own agendas."

"We need to be mindful of that, we need to be able to demonstrate resolve, to be entrepreneurial and proactive in our partnerships," he said.

Caine noted how their trilateral cooperation has expanded from one focusing solely on North Korean threats to broader security agendas, recalling former US JCS chief Gen. Martin Dempsey's remarks in a 2014 trilateral meeting.

"That afternoon, Gen. Dempsey said in the first Trilateral Chiefs of Defence (Tri-Chod) conference, that we're illuminating a future path together, a path where partnerships can evolve through persistent and regular engagement, from building capacity to really sharing responsibility," he said, in what was seen as hinting at greater responsibility-sharing by allies.

"It's on the shoulders of those three that we move forward today into an incredibly delicate chapter in our nations' plural history," Caine said.

South Korea's Kim and Japan's Yoshida echoed the call, urging for the need to keep up the momentum of their trilateral cooperation.

"It is very important to maintain and continuously develop the momentum of the trilateral cooperation at a time when North Korea's nuclear and missile threats are advancing and regional security challenges exist," Kim said.

Japan's Yoshida called for advancing and institutionalising trilateral cooperation regardless of the political situation in each country and strengthening deterrence against the North.

Following the meeting, the three military leaders released a joint statement condemning the North's "unlawful" weapons development and reaffirmed efforts to work toward its complete denuclearisation.

They also discussed Pyongyang's deepening military alignment with Pyongyang, including the deployment of the North's troops to Russia and potential transfer of military technology from Russia.

"The three defence chiefs reaffirmed that trilateral security cooperation has played a key role in promoting peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific," the statement said.

Friday's meeting is the first Trilateral Chiefs of Defence (Tri-Chod) meeting held in Seoul. Caine's visit marked the first trip to South Korea by the highest-ranking US military officer since his predecessor, CQ Brown, who visited Seoul in November 2023.

Also attending the meeting from the US side were US Indo-Pacific Command Commander Adm. Samuel Paparo Jr. and US Forces Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson, Yonhap news agency reported.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the defence chiefs were set to visit the South Korean Navy's 2nd Fleet command to honor the 46 fallen sailors killed in the North's 2010 torpedo attack of the Cheonan warship.

Next year's Tri-Chod meeting will take place in the US.

--IANS

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