Page 205 - 2018 Defense White Paper

off icials and civilian security experts from

the ROK, the U.S., Japan, China, and Russia
participated as panel. They discussed how
the establishment of peace on the Korean

Peninsula would affect global security
as well as the international community’s
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The 7 SDD (September 2018)
cooperation for the implementation of the
Panmunjom Declaration, and neighboring countries’ positions and roles in the establishment
th
of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. The 7 SDD also involved sharing of and intense
discussions on the security issues of global interest, including strategic balance in Northeast

Asia, maritime security cooperation, and cybersecurity, as well as the issues of various security
threats facing the international community such as energy security and peacekeeping operations.
Furthermore, to implement the ROK government’s New Southern Policy and New Northern
Policy, the MND hosted the 2018 ROK–ASEAN Vice Defense-Ministerial Talks following

previous year’s meeting, while the inaugural ROK–Central Asia Plus Vice Defense-Ministerial
Talks with f ive Central Asian nations and Mongolia took place. During the conference, the ROK

held bilateral meetings with 31 participating nations, including the U.S., the United Kingdom,
Russia, and Japan, and explored ways to increase mutual defense cooperation. Chapter 5
The MND will continue to develop the SDD as a venue for multilateral security cooperation
that contributes to the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula, the stability of Northeast

Asia, and world peace.

| Asia Security Summit (ASS) | The ROK Minister of National Defense has been attending

the Asia Security Summit, the largest multilateral security meeting in the Asia-Pacif ic region,
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every year since 2004. In his speech at the 17 plenary session in 2018, the ROK Minister of
National Defense explained the signif icance and outcomes of the inter-Korean summit that

took place as a result of the consistent pursuit of President Moon Jae-in’s Korean Peninsula
policy, and called for the international community’s support for the complete denuclearization
and establishment of permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. The Minister’s emphasis on

cooperation between the ROK and North Korean defense authorities, which will be expanded
to ease tension and build conf idence on the Korean Peninsula, received positive responses from
participating nations.

Section 3 Expansion of Defense Exchanges and Cooperation 203