U.S., Japan, South Korea discuss North Korea

By John Liang / April 20, 2017 at 11:41 AM

U.S., Japanese and South Korean military officials met this week to talk about North Korea's recent belligerent activities.

Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Helvey, Japan Director General for Defense Policy Satoshi Maeda, and South Korean Deputy Minister for Policy Wee Seung-ho led their respective interagency delegations at the ninth Defense Trilateral Talks, according to an April 19 joint statement issued by the Pentagon.

One of the topics discusses centered around missile defense on the Korean peninsula:

The three delegations affirmed that the U.S.-ROK alliance decision to station a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery in the ROK is only a self-defense measure in response to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and thus poses no threat to other countries in the region. The officials shared the view that pressure on or retaliation against the ROK in response to this decision is unreasonable and inappropriate and should be stopped immediately. They further urged concerned parties to actively address the root cause that makes the deployment of THAAD necessary.

Read the full joint statement here.

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