On Monday 4 November, the High Representative of the Union, Josep Borrell signed a security and defence partnership with South Korea on behalf of the EU. On 1 November, he had signed a similar agreement with Japan (see other news).
The agreements with the two partners are broadly similar, covering enhanced cooperation and dialogue in areas such as maritime security, participation in EU missions and operations, space security and defence, cyber issues, Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and disinformation, counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and disarmament, and defence initiatives and industry.
The EU and the Republic of Korea on the one hand and Japan on the other will further develop their security and defence cooperation, in particular by exploring possibilities for cooperation in terms of capacity building and support to other partners using their respective security and defence programmes.
The Union will discuss with each of its partners their respective defence initiatives, “including the exchange of information on defence industry issues”.
The EU and the Republic of Korea will explore ways to cooperate on the global security and defence aspects of their respective economic security policies, “with the aim to address the risks that both face, while maintaining and improving a well-functioning international rules-based system to continue to benefit from an open economy”, their agreement states. Such cooperation is not provided for in the agreement with Japan, but the two parties reaffirm the need to “enhance their engagements in ensuring economic resilience and economic security globally while maintaining and improving the international rules-based system and preserving an open economy”.
Europeans and South Koreans will explore the possibility of cooperating in the fields of space security, notably by launching a specific dialogue on the subject, while Europeans and Japanese will study the possibility of extending their existing dialogue on space policy to include issues related to space security.
The EU and Seoul are also committed to establishing a regular dialogue on maritime safety at Director/Head of Division level in order to deepen mutual understanding and strengthen cooperation.
For their part, the EU and Japan will explore the possibility of a Japan-EU Agreement on the Security of Information.
Finally, the parties propose to explore as well the potential for cooperation on counter-terrorism issues by devising activities for greater interaction between entities that prevent or combat violent extremism.
To see the agreement with South Korea: https://aeur.eu/f/e5x
And the one with Japan: https://aeur.eu/f/e5y (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)