Path for Korea-US-Japan cooperation

By Yang Moo-jin

Approximately 40 days have passed since Joe Biden took office. His administration is clearing away the Trump government's policies and setting its own direction, steering away from the U.S.-centric ideology of "America first" and contributing to solving problems around the world. It is stressing a return to traditional diplomacy by taking a scalpel to America's incorrigible maladies.

To those who witnessed the "America never known" over the past four years, President Biden's first 40 days are perceived as a stable beginning. Nonetheless, as a political scientist researching Korean Peninsula affairs, I will focus on the Biden administration's foreign policy ― especially the attitude of valuing the U.S., Japan and South Korea's cooperative trilateral relationship ― and propose recommendations to ensure the direction of the cooperation is desirable.

Since President Biden's inauguration, all of his political appointees have stressed the alliance and cooperation. This could be construed as penance for the ruthless devaluing of these to maximize America's interests during Trump's commercialistic tit-for-tat approach. However, in Northeast Asia valuing the alliances is manifested in the strengthened cooperation between South Korea and Japan whenever North Korean issues are discussed. Those who are appointed have all, without exception, publicly stated their intent to closely cooperate with allies and singled out South Korea and Japan to that end.

In the long term, denuclearization of the peninsula, bringing peace and stability to Northeast Asia, and solving the issues of North Korea-Japan normalization are necessary. Cooperating with Japan is especially important. Also, for the Biden administration that emphasizes democracy and human rights, South Korea and Japan are the only countries in the region that share those values, thus, stressing Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation can seem reasonable. However, for the trilateral cooperation to be successful and contribute to solving the North Korea problems, a careful review and actions are required.

Firstly, the U.S. should lay the groundwork for voluntary cooperation between South Korea and Japan. Japan colonized Korea for 36 years and still has not sincerely repented for wartime forced labor and sex slavery issues. It is incorrect to question how many times Japan needs to apologize. The correct question is whether Japan seriously repents its past misdeeds and is working to prevent any recurrence. Japan should learn from its wartime ally and perpetrator of war crimes, Germany, which has since demonstrated sincere repentance and offered civic education to gain the trust of victimized countries.

South Korea is pursuing a two-track strategy to cooperate on current issues and continue to work on unresolved historical problems simultaneously. Stressing Korea-Japan cooperation by only focusing on current issues while disregarding past problems could adversely affect South Koreans' sentiment.

Harvard professor J. Mark Ramseyer's paper illustrating sex slaves as contractual entities is arousing negative reactions, showing that past problems are not to be passed on, but are rather tasks for the present and for future relations. The U.S. should work to build trilateral cooperation on current issues and urge Japanese action to solve fundamental issues in a balanced way.

Secondly, the purpose of Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation should be for regional stability and peace. In a climate of intensifying U.S.-China tensions and rivalry, many analyze America's emphasis on Korea-Japan cooperation as a means of pressuring China by linking the trilateral cooperation as part of an alliance system.

The Chinese authorities and experts are explicitly portraying mistrust and hostility in this. If the Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation develops as it was in the past, then China will likely respond with North Korea-China-Russia cooperation, and this will be a regression to the Cold War and a return to the security dilemma.

Therefore, the cooperation that the U.S. expects from South Korea and Japan should be focused on the global issues of the environment, climate change and nonproliferation. And the Biden administration with its catch phrases of "diplomacy is back" and "America is back" should aim for an open web of cooperation.

Thirdly, Japan should earnestly and positively respond to America's Korea-Japan cooperation goal. As democratic and industrialized countries, South Korea and Japan's opportunities for cooperation include culture, economy, politics and defense. Germany and France were longtime adversaries but now stand in cooperation as members of the EU.

As such, South Korea and Japan could also one day be trustful neighbors as members of a Northeast Asian peace regime. If Japan depends on America's emphasis of Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation and does not exhibit a willingness to solve Korea-Japan issues, then the vicious cycle could be structuralized. Furthermore, North Korea and Japan's bilateral issues should be approached separately.

During the six-party talks formed to tackle North Korea's nuclear problems, Japan persistently raised the issue of North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens, which led to dispersed attention to the North Korean nuclear issue. The abduction problem was discussed in the Koizumi-Kim summit, and the surviving victims returned to their homes in concurrence with the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration. Japan could make the elegant and bold decision to separate the nuclear and abduction issues, thus widening the path toward the reactivation of the peninsula peace process and taking the first step in improving Japan-North Korea relations.

South Korea's active role and flexible response are more needed than ever. The reality requires an alliance with the U.S., a strategic partnership with China and cooperation with Japan, not only in the geopolitical context but also for national security and economic cooperation. It is also true that cooperation differs, and interchanges vigorously by topic. This should be conveyed clearly between the authorities using traditional and public diplomacy, as well as to citizens for their acceptance to make more room for the autonomy of South Korea's diplomatic policies.

Yang Moo-jin (yangmj@kyungnam.ac.kr) is a professor at the University of North Korean Studies and vice chairman of Korean Association of North Korean Studies. He is also a standing committee member of the National Unification Advisory Council and policy consultant at the Ministry of Unification.

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