Camp David summit: A trilateral march toward instability?
Today’s meeting between the US, South Korea, and Japan will codify cooperation but warning signs persist.
AUGUST 18, 2023
Written by
James Park and Mike Mochizuki
The August 18 U.S.-Japan-South Korea summit held at Camp David seeks to institutionalize the rapid progress in Japan-South Korea security cooperation that was enabled by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s bold decision to resolve the World War II-era forced labor issue between Tokyo and Seoul.
In March 2023, Yoon decided to compensate Korean victims of Japanese forced labor by using South Korean funds. Five years ago, the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that Japanese companies should compensate these victims. The Japanese government, however, opposed this court ruling by insisting that this issue had already been resolved during the 1965 Japan-South Korea normalization process.
Alarmed by North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons programs and wary of Chinese economic coercion and military assertiveness, President Yoon calculated that an improvement in relations with Japan was necessary to promote South Korea’s security interests.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/08/18/camp-david-summit-a-trilateral-march-toward-instability/
