S. Korea, Japan expected to boost security ties in trilateral summit with US

President Yoon Suk Yeol poses with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, ahead of a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21. AP-Yonhap

By Lee Hyo-jin

An upcoming three-way summit between the leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan will provide much-needed momentum for the two Asian nations to boost security cooperation, analysts said Wednesday, as Washington pushes to cement trilateral cooperation to tackle common challenges the three countries face.

U.S President Joe Biden invited President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minster Fumio Kishida for a three-way meeting at Camp David in Maryland on Aug. 18, which would be the first standalone trilateral summit. The three leaders have held joint meetings on the sidelines of multilateral gatherings until now, but have never held a formal trilateral summit.

The three leaders are expected to announce a joint statement highlighting strengthened trilateral cooperation against North Korea's aggression and closer economic ties.

While negotiations are underway between officials of the three nations on the text of the joint statement, the U.S. is seeking to include an agreement between South Korea and Japan that each nation has a duty to consult the others in the event of an attack, according to a Financial Times report published on Tuesday (local time).

“The White House wants to bring its two Pacific allies closer to boost deterrence against North Korea and China,” read the report, citing four officials familiar with the matter.

Regarding this, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday that “discussions are underway about releasing an appropriate joint statement that aligns with the purpose of the trilateral summit,” without providing further details.

However, Yang Ki-ho, a professor of Japanese Studies at Sungkonghoe University, said the Yoon administration is likely to accept Washington's request to consult with Japan in the event of attacks.

“We don't know yet what the joint statement will contain, but bolstering military cooperation would be the next step for the Yoon government as it apparently wants to forge a quasi-alliance with Japan,” he said.

South Korea, the United States and Japan hold a joint naval drill in international waters between South Korea and Japan, July 16. Courtesy of South Korean Navy

The U.S. has established alliances with South Korea and Japan based on separate treaties, but Seoul and Tokyo are not formal allies.

“Japan is also willing to work more closely with South Korea in the security sector,” Yang added, mentioning that Tokyo highlighted the need for military cooperation with Seoul in its defense white paper released on July 28.

However, the professor said the South Korean government should be prudent about the pace and depth of its security cooperation with the neighboring country, considering lingering negative public sentiment about Yoon's push for reconciliation with Japan.

Choi Eun-mi, a research fellow at Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said a stronger security partnership between South Korea and Japan has long been on Washington's wish list.

“The now normalized bilateral relations between Seoul and Tokyo have created space for security dialogue in trilateral settings. And now, the U.S. wants to see visible progress,” she said.

But whether consulting each other in the case of attacks should become a “duty” for Seoul and Japan, as requested by the U.S., is purely up to the decision of the South Korean and Japanese governments as sovereign states, Choi said.

“It depends on to what extent the two governments are willing to broaden, deepen cooperation against shared security challenges. Just because the two nations have agreed to put historical grievances behind for future-oriented relations, it doesn't mean that they should go straight to bolstering security ties,” she said.

Choi said the government should take a step-by-step approach when it comes to military ties with Japan, mentioning that some South Koreans still hold negative views about the recent restoration of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), an intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo.