An SM-3 interceptor is launched from a Japanese destroyer on Nov. 16, 2022 | Image: Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (Nov. 21, 2022)
The U.S. endorsed Japan’s efforts to strengthen its defenses and acquire “counterstrike capabilities” to counter North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear programs and other threats in the region, as the allies’ top foreign and defense ministers met Wednesday to discuss the need for greater cooperation.
Ahead of the annual U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol also defended Tokyo’s embrace of greater military spending as a response to more frequent DPRK missile testing.
The U.S. endorsed Japan’s efforts to strengthen its defenses and acquire “counterstrike capabilities” to counter North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear programs and other threats in the region, as the allies’ top foreign and defense ministers met Wednesday to discuss the need for greater cooperation.
Ahead of the annual U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol also defended Tokyo’s embrace of greater military spending as a response to more frequent DPRK missile testing.
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Shreyas Reddy is a correspondent at NK News, based in Seoul. He previously worked as a researcher at BBC Monitoring, where his work focused on news and key people and organizations from the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Follow him on Twitter @shreyas_k_reddy.