A spokesman for the Department of Defense, Lt. Col. Martin Meiners provided the following reading:
US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner, Japan’s Director General of Defense Policy Masuda Kazuo, and Vice Minister of National Defense Policy of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Heo Tae-keun held a trilateral call on October 6, 2022, to discuss concrete ways to deal with the threats posed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The defense officials strongly condemned the recent ballistic missile launches by the DPRK as violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions and reaffirmed the importance of trilateral security cooperation to address regional security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. In addition, they committed to support their respective ministers in the upcoming Trilateral Ministerial Meeting (TMM) at a mutually determined future date.
