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News | March 10, 2021

Secretary of Defense's Trip to Asia to Focus on Strengthening Partnerships With Japan, Korea, India

By C. Todd Lopez DOD News

The Defense Department announced today the first international trip by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, who will visit three nations in the Indo-Pacific region to discuss the strengthening of existing partnerships and alliances there.
 

The secretary will depart on Saturday to visit the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii, followed by visits with officials in Japan, South Korea, and India, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said during a briefing today.

"This trip is about working to revitalize our alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, in particular with Japan and South Korea," Kirby said. "We want to reenergize our commitment to those treaty alliances. And that's really the message going forward; we know we need strong allies and partners and friends in that part of the world."

In both Japan and Korea, the secretary of defense will be accompanied by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken during meetings with government officials.

Kirby also said that today is the tenth anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, which caused major devastation there including the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. In the aftermath of that disaster, the U.S. stood up "Operation Tomodachi," to offer assistance to Japanese allies.

That operation, Kirby said, which ran from March 12 to May 4, 2011, involved some 24,000 U.S. service members.

"Together with our Japanese partners, we remember those who lost their lives and suffered greatly from the natural disaster," Kirby said. "And we also thank all those who supported the relief efforts."

The U.S. maintains positive relations with both South Korea and Japan, but in recent years, those two nations have experienced some diplomatic challenges that could weaken security cooperation in the region. In 2011, for instance, South Korea announced plans to not renew the General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA — an intelligence-sharing agreement between the two countries. While South Korea later reconsidered that decision, tensions still exist between Japan and South Korea.

"Recognizing that there are tensions between those two countries, we still encourage them to work together, and we look forward to exploring trilateral ways where we can all work together to address security challenges in the region," Kirby said.