VZCZCXRO2352
PP RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHKO #1879/01 2260704
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 140704Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5437
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/CJCS WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHHMHBA/COMPACFLT PEARL HARBOR HI PRIORITY
RUYNAAC/COMNAVFORJAPAN YOKOSUKA JA PRIORITY
RHOVVKG/COMSEVENTHFLT  PRIORITY
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RHMFISS/COMUSKOREA SEOUL KOR PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/CSAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
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RHMFISS/USFJ  PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 TOKYO 001879 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOD FOR OSD/APSA - 
GREGSON/MITCHELL/SCHIFFER/HILL/BASALLA/ARAKEL IAN 
JOINT STAFF FOR J5 - MILLER 
STATE FOR EAP, PM/ISN 
PACOM FOR J00/J01/J5 
USFJ FOR J00/J01/J5 
USFK FOR J00/J01/J5 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: AFTER KOREAN REUNIFICATION 
TAGS: PREL PARM MARR MNUC KN KS JA
SUBJECT: PART 1 OF 4 -- ASD (APSA) GREGSON PARTICIPATES IN 
JULY 16-17 U.S.-JAPAN-ROK DEFENSE TRILATERAL TALKS 
 
REF: 08 SECDEF 8291 
 
Classified By: James P. Zumwalt, Charge d'Affaires, a.i.; reasons 1.4 ( 
b/d) 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (S) The Assistant Secretary-level U.S.-Japan-ROK Defense 
Trilateral Talks convened July 16-17 in Tokyo.  The U.S. 
interagency delegation, led by Assistant Secretary of Defense 
for Asia and Pacific Security Affairs (APSA) Wallace Gregson, 
and the Japanese and ROK delegations, led by Japanese 
Ministry of Defense (MOD) Director General for Defense Policy 
Nobushige Takamizawa and ROK Ministry of National Defense 
(MND) Deputy Minister for Policy LTG Kim Sang-ki, 
respectively, discussed a broad range of security topics and 
briefed each other on their national policies, including 
updates to other extant trilateral and multilateral 
initiatives.  The agenda topics comprised:  1) response to 
the DPRK's destabilizing actions, including cooperative UNSCR 
1874 implementation and strategic communication; 2) national 
defense strategies and defense reform plans; 3) information 
security; 4) counter-piracy operations and cooperation; and 
5) DTT forward development. 
 
¶2.  (S) All parties reaffirmed the usefulness of the role of 
the DTT in providing a forum for policy-level discussion on 
defense and security issues, as well as in acting as the 
""control tower"" for other trilateral initiatives among the 
three governments.  They made a number of recommendations for 
working-level staff to discuss and implement, including 
standing up a trilateral working group on U.S. forces 
realignment and base relocation, establishing a UNSCR 1874 
action group to report to the next DTT plenary, and including 
cyber security as an agenda topic for the next plenary.  The 
U.S. delegation proposed three ""way ahead"" initiatives -- a 
trilateral chiefs of defense (CHOD) meeting via secure video 
teleconference (SVTC), a track-1 trilateral workshop on 
strategic communication and crisis management at the Asia 
Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), and reciprocal 
opportunities for Japan and the ROK to observe portions of 
the KEEN EDGE and KEY RESOLVE/FOAL EAGLE exercises.  They 
also proposed trilateral observation of a U.S. ballistic 
missile defense test shot to initiate policy-level discussion 
on future missile defense cooperation.  The Japanese 
delegation supported the proposals, while the ROK delegation 
-- citing lingering political and diplomatic sensitivities 
between the ROK and Japan on the issues of exercise 
observation and missile defense -- promised to review all 
proposals in Seoul and respond at a later date.  The ROK 
delegation confirmed it would host the next round of the DTT 
in June 2010. 
 
¶3.  (S) Comment:  This year's DTT demonstrated considerable 
progress over the November 6-7, 2008 DTT in Washington both 
in terms of the delegations' willingness to engage and the 
relevance of the discussions to their major regional 
concerns.  While some obvious signs of ROK uneasiness in 
discussing defense issues with Japan remain (Korean Peninsula 
contingency planning in particular), the South Korean 
participants interacted well with their Japanese counterparts 
in what might have been the most productive defense and 
security discussions among the three governments in six 
years.  This positive trend, likely connected to North 
Korea's recent actions, will probably continue into the next 
round of the DTT.  End Summary and Comment. 
 
¶4.  (U) From July 16-17, Assistant Secretary of Defense (ASD) 
for Asia and Pacific Security Affairs Wallace Gregson and an 
interagency U.S. delegation participated in the 
U.S.-Japan-ROK Defense Trilateral Talks in Tokyo.  ROK 
Ministry of National Defense (MND) Deputy Minister (DM) for 
Policy LTG Kim Sang-ki led the South Korean delegation.  The 
Japanese delegation was headed by Ministry of Defense Bureau 
of Defense Policy (MOD) Director General (DG) Nobushige 
Takamizawa.  (full delegation list in para 49) 
 
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---------------------------- 
U.S.-JAPAN BILATERAL MEETING 
---------------------------- 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) ASD Gregson opened the July 16 U.S.-Japan bilateral 
DTT preparatory meeting praising both government's close 
cooperation on the DPRK's recent destabilizing actions, 
including responses to the July 3-4 missile launches and the 
North Korean vessel Kang Nam I.  Both sides summarized their 
respective approaches and objectives for each of the DTT 
trilateral plenary discussion topics and briefs. 
 
----------------- 
Response to DPRK: 
----------------- 
 
¶6.  (S) MOD Strategic Planning Office Deputy Director Sugio 
Takahashi previewed the MOD brief on responding to North 
Korea's nuclear test and missile launches.  He compared the 
current security environment to similar events leading up to 
the 1994 Agreed Framework, speculating that internal DPRK 
politics surrounding leadership succession may be driving the 
DPRK's actions.  MOFA Deputy Director General for North 
American Affairs Tomita underscored the importance of 
implementing UNSCR 1874.  Deputy Assistant Secretary of 
Defense for East Asia Michael Schiffer said the U.S. 
Government regarded the current situation with the DPRK as an 
""inflection point"" in dealing with North Korea.  He added 
that current U.S. policy on North Korea focuses on enhanced 
cooperation with allies in addressing the DPRK problem. 
 
¶7.  (S) USFJ Commander Lt Gen Edward Rice stressed that the 
DTT is a good opportunity to build upon the trilateral 
cooperation leading up to, during, and subsequent to the 
April Taepodong II (TD-2) launch.  He also noted that the 
three governments ought to prepare the requisite architecture 
for policy and operational coordination, including joint 
planning and operations, as well as information sharing.  ASD 
Gregson proposed that the three sides learn more about each 
other's approach to countering the North Korean missile 
threat, beginning with trilateral observation of a U.S. 
missile defense test shot.  DG Takamizawa said the Japanese 
side will welcome the U.S. proposal at the plenary, but is 
concerned about the apparent lack of interest by the ROK. 
ASD Gregson pointed out that PACOM had received some 
indication of interest from the ROK and that the U.S. 
Government could explore venues where it would be productive 
and informative for all three sides. 
 
---------------------------- 
National Defense Strategies: 
---------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) ASD Gregson introduced the scope of the U.S. 
Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), highlighting that 
consultations on the three governments' respective strategic 
reviews will be important for identifying areas for 
leveraging each side's capabilities and operational 
resources.  DASD Schiffer introduced the QDR's four primary 
issue areas -- irregular warfare, high-end asymmetric 
capabilities, global force posture, and strengthening DOD 
support to civilian-led operations and activities.  He noted 
that the review of global force posture ought to be discussed 
in depth with the Japanese side, as it includes key questions 
on U.S. force posture in the Asia-Pacific region, adding that 
the current QDR is the first to provide analysis and guidance 
on energy security and climate change. 
 
¶9.  (C) DG Takamizawa presented the overall schedule for 
Japan's National Defense Program Guidelines (NDPG), noting 
that although the Cabinet Secretariat will draft the NDPG in 
July after incorporating a report from the civilian expert 
panel on defense reform (Note: As reported in ref B, this 
report was presented to the Prime Minister's Office on August 
¶4.  End Note.), the timing of Security Council deliberations 
in September could be affected by the August 30 Lower House 
elections.  The new NDPG focuses on three primary areas -- 
maintaining national security through effective responses to 
a wide range of contingencies, stabilizing the regional 
security environment, and improving the global security 
environment.  MOD plans to make its budget request based on 
these three ""pillars,"" which, unlike the 2004 NDPG, 
incorporates a regional perspective on Japan's defense 
policy. 
 
--------------------- 
Information Security: 
--------------------- 
 
¶10.  (C) ASD Gregson emphasized that trilateral dialogue on 
information security is not meant to duplicate the efforts of 
the Bilateral Information Security Task Force (BISTF) and the 
July 21-27 interagency security survey visit to Tokyo led by 
Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense James Hursch, nor to 
reveal to the ROK any sensitive discussions between the 
United States and Japan in BISTF channels.  Rather, the 
trilateral discussion will focus on information security in 
broader policy terms, as cooperation in this area is a 
foundational element for other forms of trilateral 
cooperation.  Cyber attacks are particularly relevant to all 
three countries, as all three governments face the same 
challenges from the same actors.  While sensitivities exist 
among all three countries, opening a conversation on this 
topic could lead to advantages, including a trilateral 
agreement on information sharing and cooperation, Gregson 
asserted. 
 
¶11.  (C) Takamizawa stressed that bilateral cooperation 
between Japan and the ROK on information security is crucial 
for strengthening cooperation in nearly every other area, 
which also affects the level of trilateral cooperation with 
the United States.  He pointed out that, to date, bilateral 
discussion between Japan and the ROK on information security 
has been lackluster, which South Korean officials also 
acknowledge.  Given difficulties in Japan-ROK bilateral 
discussions on the issue, the Japanese side hopes the U.S. 
presentation could provide the ""break"" that would allow 
Japan-ROK discussions to move forward.  MOFA's Tomita echoed 
Takamizawa's points, underscoring the need for an 
institutional framework for information security discussions 
with the ROK.  Japan Joint Staff J-5 Director RADM Hiroo 
Hatanaka praised the U.S. proposal, adding that trilateral 
information security dialogue is timely. 
 
--------------- 
Counter-piracy: 
--------------- 
 
¶12.  (C) RADM Hatanaka provided a summary of Japan's 
counter-piracy operations near the Horn of Africa and the 
Gulf of Aden, including prior legal constraints on protecting 
non-Japanese vessels that, as of July 24, will no longer 
exist.  ASD Gregson reiterated the U.S. Government's 
appreciation for Japan's counter-piracy operations.  Joint 
Staff J-5 Northeast Asia Branch Chief COL Frank Miller 
welcomed changes in Japanese law allowing the Japan Maritime 
Self Defense Force (JMSDF) to protect non-Japanese ships and 
urged Japan to consider joining CTF 151.  Working under a 
single command structure could allow for more effective 
operations, Miller noted. 
ZUMWALT