S. Korea, Japan Pledge Tighter Security Ties Amid North Korean Missile Launches

South Korea and Japan's defense chiefs connected via video call to tackle escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The conversation followed North Korea's back-to-back missile launches this week, which included multiple short-range ballistic missiles fired in two separate incidents on Wednesday alone. The launches underscore Pyongyang's increasingly defiant posture toward Seoul and regional security as a whole. Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back of South Korea and Japan's Shinjiro Koizumi focused