South Korea-Japan Mutual Logistics Support Agreement Ultimately Falls Through

Exchange Limited to Certain Areas, Such as Naval Search and Rescue Exercises

The mutual logistics support agreement (ACSA) between the military authorities of South Korea and Japan ultimately was not concluded. However, the two sides agreed to continue exchanges only in certain areas, such as further developing search and rescue exercises (SAREX) between the South Korean and Japanese navies.

Defense Minister An Gyu-baek and Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi are answering questions from young people at the Youth Security Dialogue event held on the 28th at the Korea National Defense Research Institute in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul. Photo by Ministry of National Defense Yonhap News

On the 28th, Defense Minister An Gyu-baek and Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi held a bilateral meeting at the Ministry of National Defense headquarters in Yongsan. The two ministers announced a joint statement, agreeing to further strengthen defense exchanges and cooperation between South Korea and Japan in areas such as exchanges between air force special flight teams, naval search and rescue exercises, and advanced science and technology.

In the joint statement, both sides said, "The two ministers agreed to continue developing exchange and cooperation between the special flight teams of the two countries (Black Eagles and Blue Impulse), spurred by the recent stopover of the South Korean Air Force's Black Eagles in Japan; to further advance search and rescue exercises in preparation for various maritime accident scenarios; and to promote discussions between South Korea and Japan on cooperation in advanced science and technology fields such as AI."

On January 28, the South Korean special flight team Black Eagles made its first-ever stopover at the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Naha Base in Okinawa Prefecture for mid-air refueling, marking an exchange between the two teams' pilots. The two countries intend for such exchange and cooperation to continue, rather than being a one-off event. However, the Ministry of National Defense noted that regularization of the Black Eagles team's stopovers and refueling support in Japan has not yet been decided. Earlier this month, the two countries conducted a search and rescue exercise (SAREX) between their navies for the first time in nine years since 2017, and both sides reached a consensus to regularize and further strengthen defense exchanges and cooperation in the naval domain as well.

The issue of concluding the South Korea-Japan mutual logistics support agreement (ACSA) was reportedly not included as an official agenda item in the meeting. However, as Japan has strongly hoped for and persistently requested the conclusion of an ACSA with South Korea, it is possible that the Japanese side raised it during the meeting.

This was the sixth meeting between Minister An and Minister Koizumi. The meeting took place about a month after they last held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, the Asia Security Summit, in Singapore on May 30.

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