How US-led alliance aims to mend Japan-South Korea ties and rein in China

Washington hopes ‘trilateral’ strategy will contain Beijing, while Seoul seeks to deter Pyongyang, observer says
But controversy over Japanese compensation for WWII victims and South Korean reliance on Chinese trade could limit cooperation

US-China relations

Seong Hyeon Choi

Published: 11:00pm, 21 Jan 2023

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Trilateral cooperation among the US, Japan and South Korea could bolster Washington’s goal of containing China and revitalise efforts to resolve long-standing obstacles between Tokyo and Seoul, analysts said.

The strategy has been a key focus of recent talks by US, Japanese and South Korean diplomats and top leaders.

On January 13, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi discussed the strengthening of ties among the three countries in a telephone conversation.

US official sees stronger ‘trilateral’ relationship with Japan and South Korea

The call coincided with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to the US, where he pledged to move quickly to repair strained relations with South Korea.

Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said the White House hoped that trilateral cooperation could help South Korea and Japan overcome unstable ties, with the US taking the lead in the relationship.

“There are certain limits in restoring Seoul and Tokyo’s relations, considering the difficulties in overcoming the historical experiences between the two countries,” Park said.

“So it is more advantageous to promote multilateral cooperation between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington to maintain the stability and sustainability of the security commitment against China and North Korea,” he added.

03:02

South Korea’s top diplomat in Japan for first bilateral talks in nearly 5 years

One major stumbling block between Tokyo and Seoul has been compensation for South Koreans forced to work for Japanese firms during World War II. But a recent South Korean proposal to use a domestic fund rather than direct payments by Japanese firms has raised hopes for a thaw.

In 2018, a ruling by a South Korean court ordered two Japanese companies – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Nippon Steel Corp – to compensate wartime victims.

Tokyo refused to abide by the ruling and insisted that the compensation issue had already been settled under a 1965 treaty, a position disputed by Seoul.

Park said Seoul’s new proposal – if accepted by Tokyo – could help put bilateral ties back on the right track, but the South Korean government would still need to address issues such as public demand for a formal apology by Japan.

“It will certainly improve the relations between the two countries,” Park said. “But Seoul’s new plan must be accompanied by contributions from the responsible Japanese firms and Tokyo’s apology to achieve the minimum approval among the South Korean public.”

01:57

South Korean compensation plan for Japan’s wartime forced labour victims draws ire

Frank Aum, senior expert on Northeast Asia at the United States Institute of Peace, said Seoul’s new plan to resolve strife with Tokyo had already encountered resistance from victims, which has affected efforts to restore bilateral cooperation.

“If the two countries cannot find an acceptable compromise, then the lingering tensions will continue, bilateral relations and cooperation will remain suboptimal, and the broader efforts by the United States, Japan and South Korea to advance mutual interests in the Indo-Pacific region will be undermined,” Aum said.

Speaking at Johns Hopkins University last week, Kishida said restoring strained ties with South Korea had become one of his priorities.

“The security partnership among Japan, the United States and the Republic of Korea is becoming increasingly important. I intend to enhance security cooperation among our three countries,” Kishida said.

“You may be worried about the relationship between Japan and the Republic of Korea, but I intend to resolve the bilateral issues of concern as quickly as possible to restore sound Japan-ROK relations and further promote them,” he added.

US-China rivalry ‘hampering efforts to denuclearise Korean peninsula’

The South Korean foreign ministry said patching up ties with Tokyo was one of Seoul’s priorities for the coming year.

Announced last week, the ministry’s 2023 action plan described the alliance with Washington as the “most important partnership” for South Korea and outlined plans to restore relations with Japan “to the best days”.

“South Korea, Japan and the United States all have different emphases in trilateral cooperation,” Park said. “Washington has a strong intention to use trilateral ties to contain China, while deterring the North Korean threat is more important for Seoul, and Tokyo wants to achieve both.”

Park said China’s lack of action in restraining North Korea’s nuclear weapons development had pushed Seoul and Tokyo closer to Washington.

“For China, it is uncomfortable to see stronger trilateral cooperation,” he said, but added that Beijing had not played its role to lower tensions on the Korean peninsula amid North Korea’s nuclear provocations.

“It seems clear that China’s lack of cooperation would reinforce the trilateral ties.”

South Korea tipped to tack to US, putting strategic ambiguity behind it

However, South Korea’s reliance on China for trade could restrain Seoul’s engagement in three-way security cooperation out of fears it might lead to retaliation by Beijing, which previously imposed de facto economic sanctions on South Korea for deploying its US-made missile defence shield.

Aum said while South Korea might work more closely with Japan on issues such as climate change and health security, Seoul would refrain from upsetting China on matters Beijing considered central to its national interests.

“It is clear that South Korea does not want to take steps that appear to attack, criticise, or gang up against China, so certain types of bilateral and trilateral cooperation, particularly in the security and economic realm, will be limited.”