South Korea, Japan, US defense chiefs to meet

Commander of the U.S. Naval Forces Korea, Rear Adm. William C. McQuilkin, left, salutes as Rear Adm. Michael S. White, commander of the Nimitz Strike Group, right, smiles from U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz upon its arrival at Busan port, south of Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 11, 2013. Ahead of the U.S. carrier’s visit to South Korea, North Korea on Friday called this week’s summit between the U.S. and South Korean presidents a prelude to war against Pyongyang. AP FILE Photo

SEOUL—The defense chiefs of South Korea, Japan and the United States will hold their first trilateral meeting for four years at the end of this month, with North Korea likely to top the agenda.

The three top officials will meet on the sidelines of the annual Asia Security Summit to be held in Singapore from May 31 to June 2, a South Korean defense ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

It will be their first three-way ministerial-level meeting since 2009, with defense dialogue between Seoul and Tokyo having been marred in recent years by a long-running territorial dispute and other issues.

A senior Tokyo defense official told Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun that the US and its two key regional Asian allies needed to show a united front against recent provocations from North Korea which conducted its third nuclear test in February.

“If we don’t hold a trilateral meeting, that would send North Korea the wrong message,” the official said.

The Korean peninsula is only just emerging from a sustained period of elevated military tension, during which Pyongyang threatened the US and South Korea with nuclear strikes in response to UN sanctions imposed after its February test.