No discussions on S. Korea-U.S.-Japan military training: ministry

SEOUL, March 31 (Yonhap) -- South Korea, the United States and Japan have not discussed the idea of holding a trilateral military training "at all," a Seoul official said Thursday, dismissing a new report that Seoul has recently rejected a proposal for such combined drills.

The local daily, Hankyoreh, reported Washington and Tokyo had repeatedly suggested the training in waters off the Korean Peninsula during high-level three-way consultations but that the liberal Moon Jae-in administration did not agree.

"There have not been any discussions at all regarding the possible combined military training among the South, the U.S. and Japan," the official at Seoul's defense ministry told reporters on condition of anonymity.

But the official said there has been continued "security" cooperation among the three countries.

Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have recently been seen striving to reinforce trilateral cooperation following Pyongyang's intercontinental ballistic missile launch last week and earlier provocations.

But there has been lingering public opposition here to any direct military cooperation with Japan due to still potent memories of Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule.

sshluck@yna.co.kr
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