United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has welcomed an agreement by the defense chiefs of South Korea and Japan to take measures to prevent the recurrence of a 2018 maritime row.

Austin issued the position in a statement on Saturday after South Korea's Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and his Japanese counterpart Minoru Kihara announced the agreement to strengthen their bilateral defense relationship, including measures to support operational safety and lines of communication.

In the statement, Austin said that he welcomes the important announcement and applauds the "historic leadership" by Shin and Kihara, adding that stronger bilateral cooperation between each of the three countries helps advance trilateral cooperation among all of the three. 

The U.S. defense chief added that he looks forward to meeting with Kihara and Shin in Singapore to further their momentum in support of the new era of trilateral partnership inaugurated at the Camp David Summit in August 2023.

After the talks held on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday, Shin and Kihara announced that they agreed to take measures to prevent the recurrence of the 2018 radar lock-on incident. 

The defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan are set to hold a meeting on Sunday on the margins of the security forum in Singapore.