By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
An upturn in relations between South Korea and Japan appears to be drawing the two countries closer militarily, based on comments out of Seoul's Defense Ministry on Wednesday.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe both vowed to improve bilateral ties at events marking 50 years of diplomatic relations Monday.
Thorny issues stemming from Tokyo's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula have so far prevented Abe from securing a personal summit with Park.
While some matters -- notably Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean women -- may take some time to resolve, both Seoul and Tokyo have a common defense interest when it comes to a mutual enemy in North Korea.
"The recent amiable mood is expected to allow us to work closer with Japan, facing growing nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea," a defense ministry official said according to local news agency Yonhap.
Despite South Korean suspicion over Japan's push towards greater military strength under Abe's leadership, both countries' defense ministers had already set themselves towards renewed cooperation last month at the Asia Security Summit in Singapore.
The meeting was the first of its kind in four years.
This autumn is expected to be a vital period for their joint posture, as another official confirmed that "working-level talks for policy coordination between officials of the defense ministries are planned this fall."
October will reportedly also see South Korea and Japan hold a joint military exercise.
It is not yet clear whether Seoul is prepared to resume dialogue with Tokyo on a military information sharing deal.
The deal fell through in 2012 after a public backlash -- when the revelation of secret negotiations proved too much for South Koreans already riled by Japan's failure to make amends for its past abuse of so-called comfort women.
