Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Will Korea-US-Japan military drills happen?
President Yoon Suk-yeol holds a trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday (local time). Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
Kishida's proposal for trilateral drills linked to Japan's rearmament
By Kang Seung-woo
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's remarks during his meeting with President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden, Wednesday (local time), are creating a stir here as Kishida floated the idea of holding a trilateral military drill, which South Korea has been sensitive about.
On the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, the three heads of state sat down together for the first time in nearly five years. Korea and Japan, both of whom are not members of the military alliance, attended the meeting as the organization's Asia-Pacific partners.
While stressing the need to strengthen three-way cooperation on North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile threats, Kishida suggested that they prepare for possible provocations through a combined military drill that has never happened due to the historical animosity between Seoul and Tokyo.
“I think it was very timely to hold the Japan-U.S.-South Korea summit this time. … We also welcome the agreement on the implementation of missile alert training and ballistic missile detection and tracking training by the three countries at their recent defense ministers' meeting,” he said in his introductory remarks.
The cited missile tracking exercise, named Pacific Dragon, will be staged in waters off Hawaii in August, but Canada and Australia will also participate.
“If a nuclear test is conducted, I would like to respond in partnership with the United States and South Korea through trilateral cooperation, including joint military training,” Kishida added.
Furthermore, Kishida said he would like to strengthen Japan's own defense capabilities drastically in order to strengthen the deterrence and coping capabilities of the Japan-U.S. alliance.
Given that Kishida is an advocate of revising Japan's Constitution to allow the country to rearm itself and engage in war as a means to solve disputes, which has been outlawed since 1947, his remarks are seen as a move to declare that Japan will play a stronger military role in regional security, which critics would call a return to militarism.
For the U.S.' part, Washington is supporting Japan boosting its military capabilities as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at containing China, but Korea has remained cautious about Japan's rearmament, which would lead to a trilateral military alliance, as the alliance would allow Japan's self-defense forces to intervene in an emergency situation on the Korean Peninsula ― something that South Korea cannot accept due to Japan's colonial occupation of South Korea from 1910 to 1945.
In that respect, the previous Moon Jae-in administration was committed to bolstering its military alliance with the U.S., while remaining negative about the trilateral alliance with Japan.
The military authorities are skeptical of the trilateral exercise, describing it as “unrealistic.”
“It is an issue that falls on political decision,” said a military officer on the condition of anonymity.
“Given that Japanese forces could set foot on South Korean soil, which could face a public backlash, Korea's political stance cannot drastically change,” the officer continued.
However, given that Yoon hinted during his election campaign that South Korea may allow the Japanese military to intervene in matters related to the peninsula, it remains to be seen if he may do an about-face on the issue.
Of significance, Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, is a figure who is positive about forming a military alliance between South Korea and Japan, so it may be that the Japanese side pushes strongly for the trilateral military alliance.