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President Park Geun-hye shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their bilateral summit in Washington D.C

Military cooperation among South Korea, the US, and Japan is expected to gain traction after their leaders agreed to strengthen trilateral collaboration on security at the Nuclear Security Summit on Mar. 31.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye, US President Barack Obama, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe previously helped usher in stronger trilateral cooperation by tackling frictions between Seoul and Tokyo during a trilateral summit at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague two years ago.

Specific discussions on trilateral military cooperation appear set to take place at a meeting of Defense Ministers - likely at the Singapore Shangri-La Dialogue in May - and at Defense Trilateral Talks (DTT) to be held during the first half of the year. The Defense Minister talks are a particular focus of attention as the first trilateral security discussions since recent security legislation went into effect in Japan allowing its Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) to legally wage war. Specifically, the JSDF is allowed to exercise its collective self-defense authority by providing active rear support to protect US forces deployed to the Korean Peninsula in the event of an emergency.

Later trilateral talks are now expected to include serious discussions on the types and scope of JSDF military activities in such a situation. But many argue that the expansion of JDSF activities should be approached carefully due to possible infringements on South Korea’s sovereignty.

Trilateral missile defense cooperation also looks poised to gather momentum. This year, South Korean and US authorities are planning to connect the Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) system with the US Forces Korea USFK) missile defense system in a single network for the real-time exchange of information on North Korea’s missile program. The linkage of South Korea and the US’s missile defense systems would mean a three-way network also encompassing Japan, as USFK is already linked with Japan’s missile defense system.

But many are voicing concerns that the ultimate aims of the stronger trilateral military cooperation extend beyond North Korea to target China.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

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