Senior defence officials of South Korea and Japan held high-level talks in Tokyo on 9 October 2026 and reaffirmed the critical importance of close bilateral and trilateral coordination to counter North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile programme, Seoul's defence ministry announced on Friday.

Key Developments

South Korea's Vice Defence Minister Lee Doo-hee met with his Japanese counterpart, Vice Defence Minister Atsushi Ando, as part of a two-day visit to Japan that began on Thursday. Earlier in the visit, Lee also paid a courtesy call on Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi. The trip came at Ando's invitation, following his two earlier visits to Seoul — in May for bilateral security policy consultations and in September to attend the Seoul Defence Dialogue.

What the Officials Agreed On

During the Tokyo talks, Lee and Ando reaffirmed the necessity of close coordination not only between Seoul and Tokyo, but also in the broader Seoul-Washington-Tokyo trilateral framework, to respond to North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile capabilities amid what both sides described as a rapidly changing international security environment and a grave situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Notably, the two sides also agreed to expand defence cooperation into future-oriented domains, including artificial intelligence (AI) and unmanned systems — a signal that the partnership is evolving beyond conventional military coordination into advanced technology sectors.

Trilateral Cooperation in Focus

The Tokyo meeting follows a similar engagement on the sidelines of the Seoul Defence Dialogue last month, where the same officials pledged continued efforts to deepen defence exchanges. At that forum, both sides stated that 'bilateral and trilateral cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the US is crucial for maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and across the region,' according to Seoul's defence ministry.

The ministry further noted that the two sides agreed to 'maintain communication and ongoing efforts to foster stable, mutually beneficial and forward-looking defence exchanges based on mutual understanding and trust.'

Background: A Complicated Bilateral Relationship

The renewed diplomatic momentum comes despite ongoing historical sensitivities between Seoul and Tokyo. At the September Seoul Defence Dialogue, Japanese Defence Minister Koizumi was notably absent — his deputy Ando attended in his place — after Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, a controversial wartime memorial in Tokyo widely seen as a symbol of Japan's imperialist past, drew sharp criticism from South Korea and other neighbouring countries. That episode underlines how historical grievances continue to shadow an otherwise strategically convergent relationship.

What Comes Next

With North Korea showing no signs of curtailing its missile testing programme and geopolitical pressure intensifying across the Indo-Pacific, analysts expect the Seoul-Tokyo defence axis to deepen further, particularly on shared early-warning systems and AI-integrated defence platforms. Future trilateral drills involving Washington are also widely anticipated.