South Korea Mulls Joining AUKUS Military Tech Pact, New Zealand Rules Out "Quick Membership"

South Korea held talks about joining part of the AUKUS defence deal on May 1, Defence Minister Shin Won-sik said. Shin said that there were talks about how Seoul could contribute to the second phase of the AUKUS pact at annual meeting of South Korean and Australian officials. Formed in 2021, AUKUS is a two-stage security pact between Australia, UK and the US to counter China's growing power in the Asia Pacific region. The pact is designed to boost all three countries’ defence and research capabilities amid growing competition with China. The first stage or “Pillar 1” to give Australia nuclear submarine technology is limited to the core trio of the AUKUS.