The Koreas | Diplomacy | East Asia
While the latest Japan-South Korea defense ministers’ meeting shows an obvious trajectory of rapprochement between the two neighbors, it also exposes certain boundaries in their defense cooperation.
Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro paid a two-day visit to Seoul on June 27-28 and held direct talks with his counterpart Ahn Gyu-back. This was Koizumi’s first official trip to South Korea in his current position, reciprocating Ahn’s visit to Tokyo in January. For the two leaders personally, it marked their fourth face-to-face meeting since last November, out of six encounters to date in total. Unprecedentedly, the two ministers jointly visited South Korea’s Black Eagles aerobatic team at the Wonju Air Base. It was the first time a foreign defense minister had done so.
The last visit similar to Koizumi’s recent trip was in September 2025, when then-Japanese Defense Minister Nakatani Gen traveled to Seoul to meet his South Korean counterpart Han Min-koo. While Nakatani’s visit symbolized the end of a decade-long diplomatic hiatus between the two countries, the latest talks also marked a significant milestone for their relations. It was the second time in history, repeated after 23 years, that Japanese and South Korean defense ministers have exchanged visits within a single year.
