By MARCUS WEISGERBER
WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel plans to discuss North Korea’s “provocative behavior” during a trilateral meeting with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan at a major defense summit in Singapore later this week.
The talks are scheduled to take place this weekend at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security conference, according to a senior defense official.
“The provocative behavior that we’ve seen out of North Korea ... that is by far the dominant agenda item,” a senior US defense official said Tuesday.
In recent months, North Korea has threatened to attack its neighbors and fire missiles at the United States, prompting the repositioning of US and Japanese ballistic missile defense assets.
The trilateral meeting will mark the fourth time defense ministers from the United States, South Korea and Japan have met together at the Shangri-La Dialogue.
Hagel also has a trilateral meeting scheduled with Japan and Australia.
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