hankyoreh

By Yi Yong-in, staff reporter

South Korea and Japan held a public battle of nerves over the issue of deployment of the U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ) in the case of a contingency situation on the Korean peninsula. The disagreement has revealed the strained nature of relations between the two countries.

The catalyst for the argument was a statement given by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a July 15 meeting of the Budget Committee in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Japanese parliament. In response to a question posed by Your Party member Shigefumi Matsuzawa regarding USFJ deployment in the event of an contingency situation on the Korean peninsula, Abe said, “USFJ deployment is a matter requiring prior consultation [between the U.S. and Japan], so the USFJ cannot provide aid to Korea without Japanese approval.” This is to say that even if there is a contingency situation on the Korean peninsula, the USFJ cannot act if there is opposition from the Japanese government. Abe’s statement might be interpreted as a veiled threat to South Korea.

The Japanese press seconded Abe’s statement, saying, “According to the exchange of notes based on the Japan-US Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, military use of the USFJ base is a matter requiring prior consultation between the two countries.”

The South Korean Ministry of National Defense publicly refuted Abe’s statement on July 16, calling it “baseless.” A senior South Korean military officer commented on the same day, “In a contingency situation on the Korean peninsula, an augmentation of U.S. forces on the peninsula will happen in accordance with existing operational plans, including the Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and the Republic of Korea and other standing agreements between the United States and South Korea.”

“It is my understanding that there has been prior agreement between the U.S. and Japan as to the USFJ’s role as a rear base for the United Nations Command, including deployment of the USFJ to the Korean peninsula if necessary,” the same officer said. In short, the Japanese government has no right to intervene in matters regarding USFJ deployment to the Korean peninsula.

According to a professional investigation conducted in 2009 by the administration of former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (then-leader of the Democratic Party of Japan), a policy requiring “prior consultation” before taking any major military action was established in the 1960 Japan-US Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. However, one of multiple “secret pacts” between the two countries excluded any events involving the Korean peninsula from the stipulations of the “prior consultation” policy. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense official’s mention of a “prior agreement” between the U.S. and Japan refers to this secret pact.

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