S. Korea, Japan agree to prevent repeat of 2018 maritime spat over Japanese patrol aircraft

The defense chiefs of South Korea and Japan agreed Saturday to take measures to prevent the recurrence of a 2018 maritime spat over Japanese patrol aircraft, an incident considered a major hindrance to efforts to strengthen bilateral security cooperation. Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and his Japanese counterpart, Minoru Kihara, announced the agreement following their talks held on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, in a move expected to move forward their bilateral defense cooperation. The dispute flared up in December 2018, when a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft made an unusually low-altitude flyby over a South Korean warship. Seoul decried the plane's approach as a "menacing" flight, while Tokyo has accused the South Korean vessel of having locked its fire-control radar on the plane. Under the agreement, both sides will seek to ensure the "smooth and safe" operations of their warships and aircraft on waters through fluent communications in accordance with the Code for Unplanned En counters at Sea. The ministers said they also agreed to activate bilateral defense talks in efforts to rebuild mutual trust and further advance their trilateral security cooperation with Washington amid North Korea's military threats. Source: Yonhap News Agency