South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, meanwhile, held three-way defense talks Sunday morning in Singapore.<br />Seoul's defense minister, Song Young-moo met for about an hour with his counterparts James Mattis and Itsunori Onodera on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's biggest security forum.<br />Speaking to reporters before the closed-door talks began,... Song called for greater military cooperation to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea.<br />In his remarks, Mattis said the only way North Korea will get relief from international sanctions is if it takes verifiable and irreversible steps to denuclearize.<br />And Japan's defense minister said the three countries need to strengthen their military cooperation, but also called on North Korea to cooperate in resolving long-standing humanitarian issues... like the Japanese nationals abducted by the regime. <br />
