The top naval commanders of South Korea, the United States and Japan convened in Seoul on Wednesday for bilateral talks and a trilateral dinner meeting focused on strengthening maritime security cooperation in the Pacific. South Korea's Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Kim Kyung-ryul, U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Admiral Akira Saito discussed shared concerns about North Korea's growing naval capabilities, including its new 5,000-ton destroyer and recent test-firings of cruise and anti-warship missiles. The meetings also come amid U.S. pressure on allies to deploy warships to the Strait of Hormuz to secure shipping lanes, with South Korea and Japan separately agreeing to resume joint maritime search-and-rescue exercises for the first time in nine years.