Korea, US, Japan agree to expand cooperation to deter N. Korea

South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed to strengthen cooperation in policy setting to better deter North Korean aggression, Seoul's defense ministry said Saturday.

The ministry said the understanding was reached during a meeting of senior defense ministers at the two-day-long 11th Asia Security Summit under way in Singapore.

South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Japan's Senior Vice Defense Minister Shu Watanabe attended the talks.

"The three officials concurred that North Korea's provocations pose a threat to all countries and there is a need to further enhance ties to jointly cope with the challenges," an official in Seoul said.

 He said Seoul, Washington and Tokyo viewed such provocations as the 2010 sinking of a South Korean corvette in the East Sea and the shelling of South Korean island later that year and the more recent launch of a long-range rocket as grave threats to the peace and stability of Northeast Asia and the world at large.

"The three country's stressed that despite provocative actions taken by the North, they will receive no compensation and only find themselves becoming more isolated from the international community," the official said.

The ministry official said the three allies called on Pyongyang to respect United Nations resolutions 1718 and 1874 to give up and dismantle all of its nuclear weapons programs, and warned of serious repercussions if the communist country conducts another rocket test or detonates another nuclear device. The North tested nuclear devices in both 2006 and 2009.   

The summits are arranged by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) with the first meeting taking place in 2002. The gathering is attended by senior defense ministry officials and security specialists from 27 countries in Asia, North America and Europe. (Yonhap)