South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong Doo said the three countries succeeded in changing the North’s nuclear plan and asked for more efforts to get the North back to the negotiating table. Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya also voiced his hope for Pyongyang’s involvement in denuclearization negotiations. US Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan pledged that Washington will continue giving priority to trilateral defense cooperation.
Another trilateral talks on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue took place on Saturday, bringing together defense chiefs of Japan, the US, and Australia assembled on Saturday who urged North Korea to continue its denuclearization negotiations, which have been stalled since the 2nd Trump-Kim Summit in Hanoi in February.