The Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, is an annual security forum hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore, bringing together defense ministers and senior officials for multilateral and bilateral talks.
During the forum, Ahn is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.
It will be their first in-person meeting since January, when Ahn visited Japan and held talks with Koizumi in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
The two ministers are expected to discuss ways to expand defense exchanges between Seoul and Tokyo, which have recently gained momentum.
In particular, they may discuss plans to hold a Korea-Japan search and rescue exercise, or SAREX, which had been suspended for about nine years before the two sides agreed to resume it during the Yokosuka meeting. Seoul and Tokyo are reportedly in the final stages of coordinating the schedule for the exercise.
Momentum for closer defense exchanges between the two countries is expected to continue, as Koizumi’s bilateral visit to South Korea is also being discussed following the Shangri-La meeting.
However, it remains unclear whether there will be progress on Japan’s push for an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement, or ACSA, with South Korea, as Seoul has maintained a cautious stance on the issue.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is also set to attend this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue.
A separate bilateral meeting between Ahn and Hegseth is considered unlikely, as the two already held talks during Ahn’s visit to the U.S. on May 11. Still, if the two meet on the sidelines of the forum, Ahn may again explain Seoul’s recently announced basic plan for a nuclear-powered submarine and discuss its progress.
Attention is also focused on whether the defense chiefs of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will hold a trilateral meeting during the forum.
Ahn is also scheduled to meet delegations from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as well as the defense ministers of Australia, Norway, the Philippines and Thailand, to discuss ways to expand defense and defense industry cooperation.
On May 30, Ahn will deliver a speech during a plenary session of the Shangri-La Dialogue under the theme, “Regional Security Challenges and the Republic of Korea’s Strategic Response.”
Through the speech, Ahn is expected to explain the government’s defense policy in response to the rapidly changing security environment, the ministry said.
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