Do Je-hae edits news stories as part of the AI team.
Concerns rise over sidelining of Korea in regional issues
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper listens during a news conference at the U.S. Department of State following the 30th AUSMIN in Washington, D.C. July 28. Reuters-Yonhap
By Do Je-hae
By Do Je-hae
A recent meeting of the defense chiefs of U.S. and Japan has raised questions here as to why Korea did not participate in the meeting, which was initially to be arranged as a trilateral one.
Concerns are rising over South Korea being sidelined in security issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, a wide range of bilateral issues as well as issues regarding security in Northeast Asia were discussed during a meeting between U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper and Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono in Guam, Aug. 29.
“Secretary Esper reiterated the U.S. commitment to the full implementation of President Trump and Chairman Kim's (Kim Jong-un) Joint Statement at the 2018 Singapore Summit, which includes the complete elimination of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction, their means of production, and their means of delivery,” according to a department statement released after the bilateral meeting.
The U.S. defense secretary also thanked Japan for its “strong leadership” in implementing United Nations Security Council Resolutions sanctioning the North. He also noted Japan's efforts to strengthen cooperation with “likeminded partners, including ASEAN, India, Australia and trilaterally with the U.S. and Republic of Korea.”
In this file photo taken on January 15, 2020 Japan's Minister of Defense Taro Kono listens during a press conference U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. AFP-Yonhap
According to South Korea's Ministry of National Defense, it was South Korea that had been seeking the trilateral meeting among the defense chiefs since May. As to South Korea's absence, the ministry said they could not find a date that was suitable for all three countries, considering the COVID-19 situation and the schedules of the three parties.
But despite COVID-19, other South Korean officials have participated in meetings overseas, such as Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha who visited Germany recently to discuss G7 expansion and other bilateral issues.
Some conservative media are raising suspicions that South Korea may have been lacking interest about a meeting involving U.S. and Japan, particularly at a time when Seoul has been making active efforts to advance relations with China.
Just a week before the U.S.-Japan meeting in Guam, President Moon Jae-in's national security adviser Suh Hoon met with China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Busan, Aug. 22, to discuss a possible reciprocal visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, which Cheong Wa Dae has pursued as a primary diplomatic objective this year.
Natioanl Security Adviser Suh Hoon, right, talks with China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi after their talks at a hotel in Busan, Aug. 22. Yonhap
Also there are speculations that Seoul may have been less than enthusiastic to sit face-to-face with Washington and Tokyo while it is trying to revive inter-Korean cooperation despite the U.S. discontent toward the pro-engagement policy toward North Korea while Washington sees no visible steps in Pyongyang's denuclearization.
Criticism is that the ministry made an ill-timed judgment by missing out on a timely opportunity for strengthening trilateral cooperation.
Concerns about South Korea being sidelined from the trilateral cooperation have persisted, particularly since it announced its intention in August 2019 to withdraw from the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), a military information-sharing pact with Japan that had been in place since 2016.
Korea later suspended the withdrawal due to strong opposition from the U.S. which has underlined the importance of the pact as a “symbol of trilateral cooperation.” But Korea maintains the position that it can withdraw from the pact at any time if Japan upholds trade restrictions. Experts say such a position will reduce the possibility of meaningful trilateral cooperation and isolate Korea diplomatically.
“It may serve as an opportunity for Japan and the U.S. to draw closer to each other in the absence of Korea and will raise the question of whether Korea will/should take part in the U.S. and Japan's vision of Indo-Pacific,” professor Shin Gi-wook, director of the Korean Studies Program at Stanford University, said in a previous Korea Times interview.