Page 212 - Trilateral Korea Japan U.S. Cooperation

convergence of material and political interests in the North
Korea-Russia strategic relationship over the war in Ukraine
and its impact on the potential emergence of dueling U.S.-
Japan-South Korea and China-Russia-North Korean
alignments or blocs that might support the deepening of
inter-Korean security confrontation.

The Impact and Significance of the Spirit of Camp David

The first geostrategic development that carries significance as
a factor reshaping the security environment in Northeast Asia
is the emergence of U.S.-Japan-South Korea trilateralism.
This development marks an important structural change in the
U.S.-led security architecture from a framework characterized
by a hub-and-spokes security network focused on the United
States to a network that supports and strengthens lateral ties
with America’s two major alliance partners, South Korea and
Japan. The institutionalization of trilateral cooperation marks
the culmination of a decades-long effort to cultivate various
forms of trilateral cooperation as a means by which to ease
the effects of longstanding Japan-South Korea tensions over
unresolved historical issues stemming from Japan’s pre-World
War II occupation of South Korea. From the establishment of
the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group in the late
1990s, North Korea’s nuclear drive has served as the primary
catalyst and focal point for sporadic policy coordination
efforts among the three countries, the quality and durability
of which has ultimately depended on the state of the Japan-
South Korea relationship.

212 Section III : South Korea-Japan-U.S. Cooperation: How to Deter Pyongyang and Dissuade Beijing