Protection chief to go to Japan subsequent week for talks with Japanese counterpart: sources

Protection Minister Ahn Gyu-back, proper, and his Japanese counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, shake fingers in the course of the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations Protection Ministers’ Assembly-Plus held in Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 1, 2025 (native time). Courtesy of Ministry of Nationwide Protection

Protection Minister Ahn Gyu-back is predicted to go to Japan subsequent week for talks along with his Japanese counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, sources mentioned Wednesday, with the resumption of army cooperation seen as a serious agenda merchandise.

The 2 nations are within the remaining phases of arranging Ahn’s doable three-day journey to Japan from Jan. 29-31 for talks with Japanese Protection Minister Koizumi, in line with authorities sources.

Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun has additionally reported on the doable bilateral assembly, mentioning the Japanese metropolis of Yokosuka close to Tokyo — the place the U.S. seventh Fleet is predicated — as a powerful candidate for the venue for the talks.

The envisioned assembly comes after President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met in Takaichi’s hometown of Nara earlier this month and mentioned methods to deepen their bilateral ties.

The Japanese newspaper mentioned Ahn and Koizumi additionally held telephone talks final month the place they apparently agreed to push to enhance protection ties, which have been largely stalled following an Air Pressure refueling incident in November.

South Korean fighter jets participating in an air present in Dubai have been set to refuel at a Japanese air base, however Tokyo scrapped the plan, noting how the T-50B plane operated by the Air Pressure’s Black Eagles carried out drills close to the easternmost islets of Dokdo.

Dokdo has lengthy been a recurring supply of rigidity between South Korea and Japan as Tokyo continues to make sovereignty claims in its coverage papers, public statements and faculty textbooks.

Ahn and Koizumi final held bilateral talks on the margins of the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations Protection Ministers’ Assembly-Plus in Kuala Lumpur in early November, the place they reaffirmed the significance of their trilateral safety cooperation with the U.S. within the face of advancing North Korean nuclear and missile threats.

Ahn’s doable go to marks the primary such journey by Seoul’s protection chief to Japan in about 1 1/2 years since former Protection Minister Shin Received-sik visited Tokyo for ministerial talks in July 2024.