America’s Next Move in Asia: A Japan-South Korea Alliance

McDaniel Wicker

Security, Asia-Pacific

Now is the time to move toward a true trilateral alliance.

North Korea’s latest rocket launch has led officials in both Seoul and Tokyo to call for a strong response. In light of Pyongyang’s numerous provocative actions, the United States’ closest allies in East Asia are rightly concerned about the regime. These concerns require Washington to act decisively to emphasize its commitment to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and, more broadly, across the Asia-Pacific region. Toward this end, the current alliance structure must be revamped to create a stronger defense partnership between the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea. A stronger trilateral alliance would ease the overall strain on the United States’ defense capabilities. Moreover, current geopolitical realities make such alliance-building more possible now than at any time in recent memory.

Until recently, close cooperation between South Korea and Japan seemed impossible. Historical strains dating back to Imperial Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula weighed heavily on the relationship, and Seoul’s attempts to grow closer to Beijing worried many in Tokyo.

Today, however, prospects for ROK-Japan cooperation are increasing. Following the first official meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Korea President Park Geun-hye in November, the two countries reached an agreement at the end of the year on the long-disputed “comfort women” issue—Japan would apologize for sex slavery during World War II and ROK would finally let the issue rest—removing one of the most salient obstacles to better relations. North Korea’s recent provocations have further accelerated the thaw in relations between Tokyo and Seoul by reinforcing the need for both to work together to counter Pyongyang.

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