The foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States and Japan met in Manila, Wednesday, reaffirmed the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and deterrence against North Korea, during a meeting held on the sidelines of a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-related ministerial meetings. Discussions covered the Korean Peninsula, the Middle East, small modular reactors (SMRs) and cybercrime cooperation. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi convened on the margins of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the East Asia Summit foreign ministers' meeting and related gatherings in the Philippine capital. "The three ministers shared assessments of recent developments on the Korean Peninsula, reaffirming their commitment to the principle of denuclearization and their intent to maintain a robust deterrence against North Korea," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "They agreed to maintain close policy coordination on North Korea and to continue communication and cooperation to preserve peace and st