U.S., South Korea and Japan to counter N. Korea with new missile data sharing system

Defense chiefs from the United States, South Korea and Japan announced Sunday that they will establish a real-time, three-way missile warning data sharing system in December to more effectively detect ballistic missile launches from North Korea.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement that the “real-time sharing mechanism” will be “aimed at enhancing each country’s capabilities of detecting and assessing North Korea’s missiles,” according to the official Yonhap News Agency in Seoul.

The statement was circulated following a meeting in the South Korean capital on Sunday between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart, Shin Won-sik. Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara was reported to have joined the meeting via video link.

The announcement comes roughly three months after President Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held a summit at the White House presenting a new agreement designed to deter North Korea from launching a nuclear attack.

The agreement, dubbed the “Washington Declaration,” included the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in nearly 40 years. It also included a commitment by the United States to establish a nuclear consultative group with South Korea for enhanced intelligence and information sharing on U.S. nuclear and strategic weapons operations plans in the region.

In exchange for the U.S. commitment, the Yoon government in Seoul agreed that South Korea will not pursue its own nuclear weapons arsenal.

While the U.S. and Japan also have close intelligence sharing operations vis-a-vis threats from North Korea, the extent of Tokyo’s participation in the Washington Declaration has not been publicly discussed by U.S. officials.

Sunday’s development suggests an increase in three-way intelligence sharing between the United States, South Korea and Japan, particularly with regard to ballistic missile threats from North Korea.

The North Korean regime has carried out waves of medium- and long-range ballistic missile tests in recent years, launching Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles earlier this year while reportedly also making preparations to launch its first military spy satellite.

Pyongyang has also claimed to be making dramatic increases in its nuclear weapons arsenal, which has been built up clandestinely over decades in violation of repeated U.N. Security Council resolutions.

In addition to establishing the new missile warning data sharing system, the U.S., South Korean and Japanese defense chiefs also agreed Sunday to outline plans for trilateral military drills by the end of this year to conduct joint training “more systematically and efficiently” beginning in January, according to Yonhap.

The news agency noted that the agreements come as Washington and its two Asian allies have been striving to strengthen trilateral security cooperation as long-frayed relations between Seoul and Tokyo have significantly warmed up.