Gen, Yoshihide Yoshida, 1st right, Chief of Staff, Joint Staff of Japan, Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, and John Daniel Caine, left, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, pose during a Trilateral Chiefs of Defense meeting at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool)
Delegation of South Korea, center, Japan, and the U.S., left, attend a Trilateral Chiefs of Defense meeting at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool)
Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks during a Trilateral Chiefs of Defense meeting with Gen, Yoshihide Yoshida, Chief of Staff, Joint Staff of Japan and John Daniel Caine, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (both are not in the picture) at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool)
John Daniel Caine, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks during a Trilateral Chiefs of Defense meeting with Gen, Yoshihide Yoshida, Chief of Staff, Joint Staff of Japan, and Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, (both are not in the picture) at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool)
Gen, Yoshihide Yoshida, Chief of Staff, Joint Staff of Japan, speaks during a Trilateral Chiefs of Defense meeting with Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, and John Daniel Caine, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, (both are not in the picture) at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool)
South Korea, US and Japan hold aerial drill in demonstration of strength against North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Top South Korean, U.S. and Japanese military officers urged North Korea to cease all unlawful activities that threaten regional security, as the three nations flew advanced warplanes for a joint exercise in a show of force against the North.
Gen, Yoshihide Yoshida, 1st right, Chief of Staff, Joint Staff of Japan, Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, and John Daniel Caine, left, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, pose during a Trilateral Chiefs of Defense meeting at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Top South Korean, U.S. and Japanese military officers urged North Korea to cease all unlawful activities that threaten regional security, as the three nations flew advanced warplanes for a joint exercise in a show of force against the North.
The development came Friday as Sergei Lavrov was to travel to North Korea amid booming military and other cooperation between the two countries that have raised concerns among their neighbors.
During their regular meeting in Seoul on Friday, the chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan discussed North Korea’s to Russia to support its war against Ukraine and Russia’s potential transfer of military technology to North Korea in return.
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“They urged the DPRK to immediately cease all unlawful activities to destabilize the Korean Peninsula, the Indo-Pacific, and beyond, and pledged to continue working together to respond to the DPRK’s threats,” according to a joint press statement.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name.
North Korea and Russia have grown sharply closer in recent years, with North Korea supplying thousands of troops and in return for economic and military assistance. Seoul, Washington and their partners worry Russia might provide North Korea with sensitive technologies that can enhance its nuclear and missile programs as well.
The three joint chiefs of staff chairmen — South Korea’s Kim Myung-soo, the United States’ Dan Caine and Japan’s Yoshida Yoshihide — discussed various ways to deepen their cooperation in order to ensure peace and stability in the region, according to the joint statement.
Also Friday, the three countries staged a trilateral aerial drill in international waters off South Korea’s southern Jeju island. The training, which involves nuclear-capable B-52H bombers from the U.S., is meant to improve the deterrence and response capabilities against North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry.
In recent years, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have been expanding or restarting their regular to cope with North Korea’s enlarging nuclear arsenal. North Korea views such U.S.-led drills as invasion rehearsals and often responds with missile tests.
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Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, was to begin a three-day trip to North Korea on Friday, according to North Korean and Russian state media reports earlier this week.
Russia’s Tass news agency, citing Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, reported Wednesday that Lavrov’s North Korea trip was part of the second round of “strategic dialogue” with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui. Lavrov and Choe’s earlier meeting took place in November in Moscow.
Some South Korean analysts said Lavrov may discuss arranging a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to Russia.
