Photo/Illutration Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, left, with Shin Won-sik, his South Korean counterpart, before their meeting at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore on June 1 (Provided by the Defense Ministry)

SINGAPORE--Japan and South Korea took steps to prevent a recurrence of a highly volatile incident between their armed forces in 2018 that resulted in a standoff over defense exchanges.

Japan at the time complained that a South Korean Navy destroyer’s fire-control radar system locked on a Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol aircraft in the Sea of Japan.

Locking on is considered a possible prelude to opening fire. 

South Korea denied Japan's assertion and instead accused the MSDF aircraft of flying at a dangerously low altitude near the destroyer.

“A recurrence of the fire-control radar lock-on incident will be prevented (from now on),” Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters after meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Shin Won-sik, here on June 1. “We will reactivate Japan-South Korea defense cooperation and exchanges based on the results of today’s meeting.”

At the meeting, the two sides effectively set aside their differences over the incident to break the deadlock in cooperation in defense matters.

They agreed to ensure smooth communication to avoid such fraught situations between the MSDF and the South Korean Navy in the future.

In a prepared document, the MSDF chief of staff and the South Korean chief of naval operations agreed that the two countries will abide by the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, a multilateral agreement that both Japan and South Korea have joined.

The code of conduct sets rules for, among other things, maintaining a safe distance between naval vessels and aircraft and the need to consider the possible consequences of locking the fire-control radar system on a vessel or aircraft.

The bilateral document also states that the MSDF and the South Korean Navy will strive for better communication by drawing on their telecommunication channels.

However, the document did not touch on the circumstances surrounding the 2018 incident over which the two countries remain at odds.

In the meeting, Japan and South Korea also agreed to arrange annual talks between their vice defense ministers, resume dialogue between working-level defense officials and reopen high-level exchanges between the SDF and the South Korean Armed Forces.

In June last year, Japan and South Korea held their first defense ministers’ meeting in about three and a half years and agreed to accelerate discussions on measures to prevent a recurrence of the 2018 incident.

Kihara and Shin met on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, organized by Britain’s International Institute for Strategic Studies and supported by The Asahi Shimbun and other organizations.

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