This year, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan ushered in a new era of cooperation.

Efforts by Seoul to resolve historical disputes with Tokyo that paved the way for the improved ties were lauded by Washington as a historic breakthrough.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held a summit at Camp David in August and agreed to launch a new security partnership in the Indo-Pacific.

The three countries pledged to expeditiously coordinate responses to regional challenges, provocations and threats affecting their collective interests and security.

They also agreed to conduct annual multi-domain military exercises and establish a system to share North Korea’s missile warning data in real time that was activated on December 9.

The leaders also agreed to bolster cooperation in supply chains and future technologies.

This year also saw North Korea return to international engagement with leader Kim Jong-un holding a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome spaceport in Amur Oblast, Russia in September, less than a month after the Camp David summit.

The Pyongyang-Moscow summit gave way not only to strengthened military cooperation but also economic cooperation, including in trade, tourism and science and technology.

The joint endeavors between the two countries are speculated to include a transfer of weapons, an assertion both sides have denied.

Photo : YONHAP News

1. S. Korea, US, Japan Usher in New Era of Cooperation

2. Ties between South Korea and Japan Thaw into Full Partnership

3. Inter-Korean Ties Suffer Due to N. Korea’s Continued Provocations

4. Rival Camps’ Partisan Polarization Deepens

5. Industrial Environment Takes Hit, Drastic Changes Seen in Global Supply Chains

6. Japan Releases Contaminated Water from Fukushima Plant

7. New Gov't Agency Launched for Overseas Koreans

8. S. Korea Wins UN Security Council Seat

9. S. Korea Successfully Launches Homegrown Nuri Rocket

10. S. Koreans Take World by Storm in Classical Music, Literature