The defense chiefs of Japan, the U.S. and South Korea on Sunday pledged to work together to realize the denuclearization of North Korea during a meeting in Singapore, with Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya telling his counterparts that their gathering "is extremely important" and that the situation on the Korean Peninsula has drastically changed.
Iwaya issued the warning at the outset of the trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, as talks between Washington and Pyongyang remain stalled following U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's failed summit in Hanoi in late February.
Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo expressed eagerness to deepen trilateral cooperation to tackle issues related to the peninsula.