South Korea, U.S., and Japan Defense Chiefs Meet in Singapore, Reaffirm Trilateral Security Cooperation

Informal Meeting and Photo Session Held at Shangri-La Dialogue
No Detailed Discussion on Trilateral Security Issues
South Korean and U.S. Defense Chiefs Also Met Briefly for Talks

The defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States, and Japan reiterated their commitment to trilateral security cooperation during the 23rd Asia Security Summit (Shangri-La Dialogue), the largest security conference in the Asia-Pacific region, held in Singapore.

South Korean Minister of National Defense Ahn Kyubaek, U.S. Secretary of War (Secretary of Defense) Pete Hegseth, and Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi met at the Shangri-La Hotel on the occasion of the 23rd Asia Security Summit on the 30th (local time).

The three defense leaders, standing in the order of South Korea, the United States, and Japan, shook hands, had a brief conversation for about five minutes, and took a commemorative photo. Although they did not hold an official meeting to discuss security issues in detail due to time constraints, it appears that they arranged this informal conversation and photo session to once again emphasize the trilateral security cooperation among South Korea, the United States, and Japan.

Trilateral Defense Ministers of Korea, the United States, and Japan commemorative photo. Ministry of National Defense

This is the first time in about six months that the defense ministers of South Korea, the United States, and Japan have gathered together, following the 12th ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) held in Malaysia in November 2025. At that time as well, the three ministers met and took a commemorative photo on the sidelines of a multilateral conference, but did not hold a separate official meeting.

Previously, at the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue held in June 2024, the three defense ministers agreed to conduct the multi-domain 'Freedom Edge' exercise and to rotate hosting the trilateral defense ministers' meetings among the three countries. The trilateral meeting was subsequently held in Japan in July of the same year, and the next meeting was scheduled to take place in South Korea in 2025. However, due to circumstances such as martial law, impeachment, and an early presidential election in South Korea, the meeting was not held thereafter.

Typically, the South Korean and U.S. defense ministers hold a bilateral meeting in Singapore on the occasion of the Shangri-La Dialogue, but this year, such a meeting did not take place. According to the Ministry of National Defense, this was due to Minister Ahn having already held a bilateral meeting with Secretary Hegseth during his visit to the United States on the 11th, as well as scheduling considerations for both ministers.

However, the Ministry of National Defense stated that Minister Ahn met and had a brief conversation with Secretary Hegseth during a luncheon hosted by the Singaporean Minister of Defense later that day. Minister Ahn expressed his appreciation for Secretary Hegseth's remarks in his speech, in which he said, "We applaud the pragmatism and leadership South Korea has demonstrated," and described South Korea's efforts to lead a swift transfer of wartime operational control as "encouraging." Minister Ahn added, "I believe the public has gained further confidence in the South Korea-U.S. alliance."

The Shangri-La Dialogue, which began the previous day, is a multilateral security forum where top security officials from major countries in the Asia-Pacific region gather to discuss regional security issues. Now in its 23rd year, the event has been organized annually since 2002 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in the United Kingdom. This year's summit was attended by delegations from over 40 countries, totaling more than 550 participants.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.