Security bosses from Korea, Japan, U.S. to meet in Hawaii

Kim Sung-han, director of the National Security Office, gives a press briefing at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul on Aug. 11. [NEWS1]

National security advisers from South Korea, the United States and Japan will meet in Hawaii this week to discuss North Korea, economic security and other areas of three-way cooperation.

Kim Sung-han, director of the National Security Office (NSO), will meet with U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and their Japanese counterpart Takeo Akiba in Honolulu on Wednesday and Thursday, the first such trilateral security meeting since the start of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration in May.

The presidential office said Wednesday, "There will be in-depth discussions on the North Korean issue, South Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation, economic security and key regional and international issues."

White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement said the officials will meet bilaterally on Wednesday and have a three-way meeting the following day at the headquarters of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Honolulu.

She added that Sullivan was expected to visit the command afterwards to discuss "our alliances in defense of the free and open Indo-Pacific."

The North Korean nuclear issue is usually a major topic in such meetings.

As Pyongyang has been signaling a seventh nuclear test, the three security advisers are expected to discuss a coordinated response and other extended deterrence measures.

Economic security and stabilizing supply chains are also expected to be on the agenda. This comes as the United States is said to be considering an alliance on semiconductor supply chains with South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Seoul is also expected to raise the recently enacted U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which denies subsidies to EVs not assembled the United States.

Seoul has conveyed to Washington through diplomatic channels that discriminatory measures against Korean-made EVs are unfair, especially as the countries are close allies with a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).

Also expected to be discussed is normalization of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (Gsomia), a military intelligence-sharing pact between Seoul and Tokyo.

Seoul and Tokyo's bilateral relations soured after Japan restricted some exports to Korea in July 2019 as retaliation for Korean court rulings on compensation for victims of World War II forced labor. As a response, the Moon Jae-in administration withdrew from the Gsomia in August 2019 but under pressure from the United States decided a few months later to conditionally suspend its termination.

The Gsomia was established in 2016 and was renewed annually through 2018.

The Joe Biden administration is pushing for closer three-way cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo, but historical spats have put a damper on such efforts. The Yoon Suk-yeol administration has stressed it would like to separate history issues from areas where it can cooperate with Japan, and advocates a normalization of the Gsomia.

Other issues to be discussed include the U.S.-led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) antimissile defense system, deployed both in Korea and Japan.

China has called on Korea to stick to a "Three Nos" policy by the Moon government, which promised not to deploy additional Thaad batteries, participate in an American missile defense network or join a U.S.-Korea-Japan military alliance. The Yoon administration has said it is not bound by Moon's promises.

Earlier this month, the United States, South Korea and Japan participated in a ballistic missile defense exercise off the coast of Hawaii. From Aug. 8 to 14, the South Korean Navy, U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force participated in a ballistic missile search and tracking exercise and shared tactical data link information during the multinational Pacific Dragon exercise.

It was the first time the three countries have held such drills since 2017.

Last week, Seoul and Washington also kicked off Ulchi Freedom Shield, the largest joint military exercise in four years, which runs through Thursday. Pyongyang has protested the drills.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]