Defense chief discusses cooperation with Canadian minister, US senators

South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, left, meets with his Canadian counterpart, Bill Blair, at Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, May 31, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security forum. Yonhap

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik met with his Canadian counterpart and a U.S. Senate delegation, respectively, Friday for talks on defense and arms cooperation during an annual security forum in Singapore, his ministry said.

Shin held the talks on the sidelines of the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue that kicked off in the city-state earlier in the day, bringing together senior security officials from some 40 countries, according to the ministry.

In the meeting with his Canadian counterpart, Bill Blair, Shin thanked him for Canada’s role in maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula through its participation in the U.N. Command and the implementation of sanctions against North Korea.

Shin also highlighted the competitiveness of the South Korean arms industry and requested Canada’s interest in the country’s homegrown submarines and K-9 self-propelled howitzers, according to what the minister told reporters after the meeting.

Blair was quoted as calling for close cooperation between the two countries, emphasizing the strategic importance of South Korea in the northern Pacific region, according to the ministry.

Shin subsequently met with the three-member bipartisan U.S. Senate delegation, including Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA), to discuss the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

Both sides condemned North Korea’s recent botched attempt to launch a military spy satellite as a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and agreed on the need to expand their alliance to the areas of cutting-edge science and technology, the ministry said.

Shin thanked the delegation for congressional efforts to maintain the current U.S. Forces Korea troop level, while members of the Senate delegation mentioned the growing strategic importance of the Korean Peninsula in sustaining regional peace and stability, it added. (Yonhap)