The agreement among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan to share details on North Korea’s missile activity in real time is not related to the U.S.’ incorporation of a missile defense(MD) system.

Defense ministry deputy spokesperson Moon Hong-sik said on Monday that any talk of such incorporation is inappropriate in light of a joint statement issued after the trilateral meeting only mentioning missile intelligence-sharing.

The deputy spokesperson said an MD incorporation would require sharing of all relevant information, ranging from missile development to combat capability, and that that was not included in the summit agreement.

He said the three sides are expected to share more accurate data on the North's missiles through their cooperation, adding that such sharing will benefit all three sides.

The remarks follow criticism that the newly agreed data-sharing would only serve to benefit Japan as South Korea is more likely to first detect missile activity, creating a lopsided transfer of information.