The announcement was made jointly by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Japanese Foreign Minister Harumi Kimura and South Korean Foreign Minister Shin Won-sik earlier this week. A new agreement The rather lengthy title is “Memorandum of Cooperation on the Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework.”
The agreement marks another major step toward realizing Washington’s long-held goal of ensuring closer security ties between Japan and South Korea, America’s strongest East Asian allies.
The announcement focused on the North Korean threat, including a reference to the ministers’ “serious concerns” over growing military and economic cooperation commitments between the Russian Federation and North Korea. [North Korea]”
Meanwhile, the announcement makes no mention of China, and only indirectly alludes to the threat it poses: All the three ministers were prepared to say was that they “shared their assessment of recent naval and aerial military activities in the Indo-Pacific region, including the South China Sea…We strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific region…”[and they] He stressed the importance of full respect for international law, including the freedom of navigation and overflight.”
The reluctance of the three parties to explicitly condemn China’s actions Reports The congressionally mandated National Defense Strategy Commission report, released the day after the agreement was announced, said it “strongly commends U.S. diplomatic and defense efforts to strengthen partnerships in Asia,” but noted that these efforts are “pushed forward in response to Chinese provocations.”
That the ministers did not go as far as the committee report reflects continuing differences among them over relations with Beijing. Washington has taken a tough stance against China, which enjoys bipartisan support at home. Tokyo and Seoul have similarly come to view China as a major security threat, but China (including Hong Kong) is the largest export market for both Japan and South Korea. Not surprisingly, they have been somewhat reluctant to follow Washington’s lead and explicitly name Beijing as the primary threat.
Despite military cooperation and despite Japan’s formal apology for its treatment of South Korea, “Comfort women” The two countries have yet to resolve their historical differences. 35 years Korea was under Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945. In fact, Japan’s rule of Korea dates back to at least 1876, when Tokyo forced Korea to sign a treaty. Treaty of GanghwaThis opened Korean ports to Japanese ships and, more importantly, forced Korea to withdraw from its tributary relationship with China.
It is not surprising, therefore, that while public opinion polls conducted in late 2023 show that the Japanese public has a more favorable view of South Korea, South Korean public attitudes have not changed despite the South Korean government’s efforts to improve relations with Japan. Moreover, not all South Koreans see China as a security threat.
December 2015 in Seoul and Tokyo Reached The agreement was meant to “finally and irreversibly” resolve the comfort women issue. Japan apologized and promised to pay the victims about $8 million. Four years later, Seoul effectively annulled the agreement, in part due to public demands that Japanese companies had exploited the women and that not only the government but also the companies should compensate the victims. Indeed, in November 2023, the Seoul High Court rejected Japan’s argument of sovereign immunity and upheld the women’s right to sue the Japanese government. In January, the court ordered the Japanese companies to compensate the women.
Given lingering public hostility toward Japan — some consider it a more dangerous enemy than North Korea — and political fluctuations in relations between the United States and Japan depending on which party is in power in South Korea, there is no guarantee the new security arrangement will survive future changes in administration in Seoul.
The best way to strengthen current trilateral security cooperation may be for Washington to push for greater cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo in non-military areas as well, which would require a true whole-of-government effort of what the Biden administration calls “integrated deterrence.”
But as the National Defense Strategy Commission noted, “recent administrations of either party have not pursued a comprehensive approach to national security.” In particular, the commission’s report noted, “there is no coordinated U.S. economic agenda for the Indo-Pacific to accompany a military strategy.” The report added that joint deterrence can only be truly successful by having “an interagency planning process that complements military operational planning with diplomatic, economic, and communications tools in coordination with allies and partners.”
Indeed, these observations offer a prescription for overcoming the mutual distrust that persists among the people of both countries, especially the Koreans. Only once that distrust is fully overcome can the tripartite security partnership endure whatever future regime changes may occur in any or all of the countries.
Dov S. Zakheim Center for Strategic and International Studies and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors Foreign Policy Research InstituteHe served as Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and as Assistant Secretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.
