South Korea and Japan Hold First Vice-Ministerial Security Talks in Seoul

South Korea and Japan held their first "two-plus-two" vice-ministerial talks between their foreign and defense ministries in Seoul on May 7, 2026. The security policy consultation, previously held at the director-general level, was upgraded to the vice-ministerial level for the first time this year, according to South Korea's foreign ministry.

First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo and Vice Minister of National Defense Lee Doo-hee led the South Korean delegation.

Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takehiro Funakoshi and Vice Defense Minister Koji Kano represented Tokyo. The four officials posed for a photo ahead of their security talks in Seoul on May 7, 2026, Yonhap reported. The two sides discussed ways to strengthen bilateral and trilateral security cooperation involving the United States.

They examined rapidly changing security conditions in the Asia-Pacific region along with complex challenges that include North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile capabilities. Yonhap reported that officials also addressed the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, including the de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Seoul and Tokyo launched the bilateral security consultation in 1998.

The talks have been suspended and resumed several times amid fluctuations in bilateral relations. The previous meeting was held in Tokyo in November 2024, Yonhap reported. The gathering in Seoul on Thursday represented a concrete step in institutionalizing higher-level dialogue between the two neighbors on shared security concerns.

Park Yoon-joo, Lee Doo-hee, Takehiro Funakoshi and Koji Kano sat down together weeks after North Korea's latest missile tests and as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz faced disruption from regional conflict. South Korea's foreign ministry described the upgrade in format as a response to the pace of regional developments that have intensified since the director-general level talks began decades ago.

Both governments have signaled that trilateral coordination with the United States remains central to their approach.

The vice-ministerial structure allows more authoritative discussion of joint exercises, intelligence sharing and policy alignment on North Korea than was possible at the previous level. Japanese and South Korean participants also used the session to compare assessments of Middle East spillover risks, particularly how any sustained closure of the Strait of Hormuz could affect energy imports for both economies.