Security Pacts: Asian Countries, the U.S., and New Zealand

The United States, South Korea, and Japan are set to sign an agreement formalising a security partnership aimed at addressing threats from North Korea and its nuclear weapons. At a summit last year, the leaders of the three countries discussed sharing real-time data on missile launches and working to strengthen trilateral ties. The trio will soon conduct joint military exercises in the air, at sea, and in cyberspace, marking the first trilateral multi-domain exercise of its kind.

Meanwhile, China and South Korea held their first high-level security talks in Seoul in about nine years. Authorities in Seoul have also detected at least 10,000 shipping containers shipped from North Korea to Russia, capable of holding 4.8 million artillery shells like those used by Putin in Ukraine.

Additionally, Japan and New Zealand have agreed to an intelligence-sharing pact amid concerns about the increasingly complex security environment in the region, including growing ties between Russia and North Korea. Prime Ministers Fumio Kishida and Christopher Luxon have also expressed concern about rising tensions in the South China Sea, where China has become increasingly assertive in its territorial claims.