Time for a Bolder U.S.-Japan-South Korea Trilateral?

Sheila A. Smith

Security, Asia

It is important that Toyko, Seoul and Washington maintain unity in their approach to Pyongyang.

For the second time, President Barack Obama brought together President Park Geun-hye and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a trilateral summit on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit. The first time in 2014 the president was facilitating a meeting the two leaders could not have on their own, but last week the improving relations between Seoul and Tokyo were obvious. While the United States has facilitated some of these improvements, ultimately it is North Korea and its provocations that brought the two U.S. allies back to the table. Whether the future of this trilateral can be bolder and more resilient remains to be seen.

Asia’s diplomacy on the sidelines of President Obama’s Nuclear Security Summits matter greatly given the tremendous stakes in the choices made by our nonnuclear allies in Northeast Asia. Pyongyang has raised threat perceptions across Northeast Asia, just as its increasingly provocative behavior has put pressure on the defense preparedness of South Korea and Japan. North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs make it abundantly clear that sooner or later we will face a direct challenge to the credibility of the U.S. nuclear umbrella in Asia. It is important therefore that Japan, South Korea and the United States maintain unity in their approach to the North.

Last week, the three leaders spent the bulk of their time discussing how to manage this increasingly bold North Korea. With a nuclear test followed by an intermediate range ballistic missile test, multiple firings of shorter range missiles towards Japan, and some seriously concerning threats about a nuclear attack on the United States, it is no wonder that this was the focal point. The peace and stability of Northeast Asia depends on the ability of South Korea, Japan and the United States to cooperate effectively to meet whatever challenges Pyongyang may pose.