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Direction of Korea-Japan military cooperation
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Former Japanese defense minister and Professor of Takushoku University Satoshi Morimoto
By Jun Ji-hye
By Satoshi Morimoto
The division of the Korean Peninsula is a negative legacy of World War II, and the unification of the two Koreas is the most important remaining agenda for promoting peace and stability not only in Northeast Asia but globally.
However, North Korea is one of the most unpredictable states in the world and has periodically engaged in provocations of its neighbors, especially South Korea and Japan.
The injuries of South Korean soldiers in landmine blasts inside the Demilitarized Zone in early August were a very regrettable incident.
North Korea launched ballistic missiles toward or over Japan’s territory over three-yearly periods, in 2006, 2009, and 2012. There is speculation that it might engage in a similar provocation this year, three years on since the last such incident.
The six-party talks have not worked yet due to the insistence by the North that it should join the talks with the status of a nuclear power and without any conditions attached. These pre-conditions are unacceptable.
North Korea would enjoy a period in which it could further develop its nuclear and missile capability. However, with regard to the North Korean regime, it is impossible to speculate whether something may change at any time.
Particular attention is being paid to relations between China and North Korea, especially since the 2013 purge and execution of Jang Song-thaek, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s uncle and mentor, who was greatly connected with Beijing’s political and business interests.
While its high ranking officials have engaged in dialogue with China, North Korea declined to accept the invitation for Kim to attend the 70th anniversary ceremony in China in early September to mark the victory over Japan in World War II, and did not send military forces to take part in the military parade there.
The reality is that the amount of trade, investment, and exchange of mineral resources between Pyongyang and Beijing has been significantly reduced over the last two years.
What will happen in on the Korean Peninsula will come down to the process and the scenario that emerges. However, it is clear that the preferred process and scenario will not come about slowly and gradually through dialogue and reconciliation.
In other words, the unification process is likely come about suddenly without any notification or warning, as in the case of the unification of Germany. In such circumstances, the Republic of Korea may absorb North Korea as a crisis management measure that would be a matter of national security.
However, there are two scenarios to the unification process, one being that a hard landing is relatively likely, mainly due to the serious internal confusion or large-scale provocation by North Korea of its neighbors, where a counter attack would result in the disintegration of the North Korean state and society.
That means that we have to prepare and maintain readiness for contingency situations at any time and intensify the sharing of information, reaction measures, and mutual cooperation between relevant states, comprising South and North Korea and four others states, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia.
In this context, South Korea and Japan should expand and improve their defense exchange and cooperation in various areas.
First of all, we should improve personnel exchange between both states in various channels, including periodic dialogue between respective defense ministers, vice defense ministers, and policy planning officials.
Also, both states should improve the exchange of officers for mutual defense, the provision of mutual ports of call for each state’s naval ships, and the promotion of study tours for students in defense school.
Second, we should improve joint exercises and training of search and rescue, PKO activities, medical care, and a wide range of logistics support activities. In particular, joint exercises for NEO (non-combatants evacuation) activities on the peninsula are very important for a contingency situation.
Third, Japan prefers to strengthen intelligence sharing with South Korea, considering recent occurrences related to North Korea, including its claim that it succeeded in test-firing a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). Information and intelligence exchange are important in an emergency, such as North Korea launching a ballistic missile or flying drones over South Korea, or engaging in provocative air or naval activities.
Fourth, the most important measure for Japan and South Korea is to maintain the trilateral ties between the U.S.
Fifth, the improvement of mutual cooperation on defense equipment and technology is critical. Japan has adopted a new guideline of defense equipment transfer in April 2014 and established a new office of Defense Acquisition and Technology (D-ATLA), a logistics agency, in the Ministry of Defense in October.
In this context, we wish to improve our mutual cooperation in order to exchange information, assistance, and cooperation to most ASEAN states for capacity-building measures in the defense area. Japan and the Republic of Korea have different areas and activities to cooperate and share with each other in order to improve the defense capability of other Asian countries.