(LEAD) U.S. to pursue more trilateral defense cooperation deals with Korea, Japan: senior official

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By Chang Jae-soon

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Yonhap) -- The United States will pursue further three-way defense cooperation deals with South Korea and Japan like the information sharing agreement concluded among the countries late last year, the top Pentagon official in charge of Asian affairs said Friday.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Shear made the remark during a speech at an event on U.S.-Japan security, calling the intelligence sharing deal was a "good first step" and expressing hopes for Seoul and Tokyo to make progress on historical issues.

"We strongly welcomed the conclusion of the trilateral information sharing agreement among Korea, Japan and the U.S.," he said. "I think there are opportunities for further such arrangements. I think we have to be realistic and patient in how we approach this, given the sensitivities.

"But we've seen, as we've worked through the information sharing agreement, that trilateral cooperation is quite possible and ... I think you will find us looking for further opportunities, not yet defined, to cooperate trilaterally," he said.

The session was sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In December, the three countries signed the memorandum of understanding that calls for voluntarily sharing of sensitive military information on North Korea's nuclear and missile programs to better counter Pyongyang's evolving security threats to the region and beyond.

The deal paved the way for Seoul and Tokyo to share such intelligence via the U.S. after the two countries failed to strike a bilateral intelligence sharing deal in 2012 due in part to negative public sentiment in South Korea about signing such a pact with the former colonial ruler.

The U.S. has called for greater three-way defense cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo in part to counter a rising China. But frayed relations between the South and Japan over historical issues have stymied such efforts.

Shear hailed progress the U.S. has made in bilateral defense cooperation with Japan, calling Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "a man of great vision and a man of peace" and "very forward-leaning and future-oriented." He added he expects Abe to demonstrate such characteristics when he addresses the U.S. Congress next month.

Japan has also been a key security partner for the U.S. in a region where China has significantly increased its influence. Washington and Tokyo have been negotiating to revise their bilateral defense cooperation guidelines in a way that increases Japan's military role through "collective self-defense."

Collective self-defense empowers Japan to fight alongside its allies even when not under attack itself. Japan's Cabinet reinterpreted Tokyo's war-renouncing constitution to make it possible for the country to exercise the right. The revision is also seen as an effort to keep a rising China in check.

Shear said he hopes to complete the guidelines as close to Abe's visit to the U.S. as possible.

Abe is scheduled to make an April 26-May 2 visit to the U.S. that includes talks with President Barack Obama on April 28 and will also take him to Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The visit is expected to be an occasion for the two countries to celebrate their ever-growing security and economic partnerships.

jschang@yna.co.kr
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