Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-2z2hb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-13T09:11:57.468Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Walking a Fine Line: US Involvement in Bilateral Tensions between South Korea and Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2025

Krista E. Wiegand  and
Sojeong Lee
Krista E. Wiegand
Affiliation:
Center for National Security & Foreign Affairs, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Sojeong Lee*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
*
Corresponding Author. Sojeong Lee; Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

South Korea and Japan have maintained tense bilateral relations over their unresolved historical and territorial disputes for decades. The US has repeatedly called for improved relations between South Korea and Japan and underlined the importance of US–South Korea–Japan trilateral relations to address North Korean threats and regional security challenges. Would we, then, expect the US to play a role in helping to mediate South Korea–Japan problems? If so, under what conditions and to what extent would the US get involved in South Korea–Japan disputes? If not, what makes the US hesitate to do so? We argue that US involvement in South Korea–Japan bilateral relations depends on the degree to which the US perceives the tensions as costly and risky for US national security interests. With an issues-based analysis, a granular examination of South Korea–Japan trade disputes and the spat over the GSOMIA in 2019, and qualitative interviews with former US government and military officials, we find that the US is more likely to involve itself in South Korea–Japan relations and more likely to use its leverage as a major power with its allies when it perceives significant risks to its capabilities to address security challenges, primarily those posed by North Korea.

Keywords

South KoreaJapanUnited Statesalliancenational securityNorth Korea
Type
Article
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , November 2024 , pp. 386 - 407
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The East Asia Institute

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment 2020: Key Development and Trends. London: International Institute for Strategic Studies.Google Scholar
Bong, Youngshik D. 2013. “Built to Last: The Dokdo Territorial Controversy. The Baseline Conditions in Domestic Politics and International Security of Japan and South Korea.” Memory Studies 6 (2): 191–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS). 2021. “RESOLVED: The United States CAN FIX the Japan–South Korea Problem.” Debating Japan. Vol 4. Issue 4. July 9, 2021. https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/DebatingJapan_Vol4Iss4_Final.pdf?VersionId=Uq3MVWQ9N8SpRL.Atoy6XzkA3GrzC.Vs.Google Scholar
Chun, Chae-Sung. 2000. “Theoretical Approaches to Alliance: Implications on the ROK–US Alliance.” Journal of International and Area Studies 7 (2): 71–88.Google Scholar
Congressional Research Service. 2022. US–South Korea Relations. Updated February 24, 2022. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R41481.Google Scholar
Congressional Research Service. 2023. Japan–US Relations: Issues for Congress. Congressional Research Service, Updated January 6, 2023. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/RL33436.pdf.Google Scholar
Dudden, Alexis. 2008. Troubled Apologies Among Japan, Korea, and the United States. Troubled Apologies Among Japan, Korea, and the United States. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Government of the Republic of Korea. 2022. Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region. https://overseas.mofa.go.kr/viewer/skin/doc.html?fn=20230106093833927.pdf&rs=/viewer/result/202301.Google Scholar
Heo, Uk and Roehrig, Terence. 2018. “Development Power Theory: The South Korean Case.” Pacific Focus 33 (1): 111–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hwang, Wonjae, Cho, Wonbin, and Wiegand, Krista E.. 2018. “Do Korean–Japanese Historical Disputes Generate Rally Effects?” Journal of Asian Studies 77 (3): 693–711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, David C. 2010. “Status and Leadership on the Korean Peninsula.” Orbis 54 (4): 546–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khalil, Elias L. 2012. “The Temper Tantrums of Nations: Why Would Weak Nations Challenge Hegemonic Nations?” International Negotiations 17: 321–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Dohee. 2020. “Case Analysis of the ROK–US Alliance Burden-Sharing through Theoretical Approaches to the Evolution of an Asymmetric Alliance.” Korea Observer 51 (1): 27–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klingner, Bruce, and Walters, Riley. 2019. “The US Must Limit Damage from the Japan–South Korea Trade Dispute.” Backgrounder No. 3429. August 7. The Heritage Foundation. www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2019-08/BG3429.pdf.Google Scholar
Koo, Min Gyo. 2010. Island Disputes and Maritime Regime Building in East Asia: Between a Rock and a Hard Place. New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. 2022. National Security Strategy of Japan. (Provisional translation), December 2022. www.cas.go.jp/jp/siryou/221216anzenhoshou/nss-e.pdf.Google Scholar
Moon, Chung-in, and Li, Chun-fu. 2010. “Reactive Nationalism and South Korea's Foreign Policy on China and Japan: A Comparative Analysis.” Pacific Focus 25 (3): 331–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrow, James D. 1991. “Alliances and Asymmetry: An Alternative to the Capability Aggregation Model of Alliances.” American Journal of Political Science 35 (4): 904–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrow, James D. 2006. “The US and ROK Alliance: An Asymmetric Alliance over Time.” Conference paper prepared for the International Conference at Korean National Defense University in Seoul, Republic of Korea on May 25, 2006.Google Scholar
Nakahara, Junki. 2021. “Deconstructing Abe Shinzo's ‘Take Back Japan’ Nationalism.” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 19 (1): 1–13.Google Scholar
Panda, Ankit. 2019. “US Unlikely to Mediate in Ongoing Japan–South Korea Export Control Spat.” The Diplomat, July 16. https://thediplomat.com/2019/07/us-unlikely-to-mediate-in-ongoing-japan-south-korea-export-control-spat/.Google Scholar
Park, Min-hyoung, and Chun, Kwang Ho. 2015. “An Alternative to the Autonomy–Security Trade-off Model: The Case of the ROK–US Alliance.” The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis 27 (1): 41–56.Google Scholar
US Department of Defense. 2019. Indo-Pacific Strategy Report: Preparedness, Partnerships, and Promoting a Networked Region. June 1. https://media.defense.gov/2019/Jul/01/2002152311/-1/-1/1/DEPARTMENT-OF-DEFENSE-INDO-PACIFIC-STRATEGY-REPORT-2019.PDF.Google Scholar
US Department of State. 2021. US Security Cooperation With Japan. Fact Sheet. Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, January 20. www.state.gov/u-s-security-cooperation-with-japan/.Google Scholar
US Department of State. 2023. The Historic Announcements by the Governments of the Republic of Korea and Japan. www.state.gov/the-historic-announcements-by-the-governments-of-the-republic-of-korea-and-japan/.Google Scholar
US Embassy & Consulates in Japan. 2023. Trilateral Leaders’ Summit of the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. August 19. https://jp.usembassy.gov/trilateral-leaders-summit-us-japan-south-korea/.Google Scholar
Webster, Timothy. 2022. A Formula to Resolve the South Korea–Japan Wartime Forced Labor Issue. United States Institute of Peace. August 18. www.usip.org/publications/2022/08/formula-resolve-south-Korea–Japan-wartime-forced-labor-issue.Google Scholar
White House. 2010. National Security Strategy. May. https://nssarchive.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2010.pdf.Google Scholar
White House. 2015. National Security Strategy. February. https://nssarchive.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2015.pdf.Google Scholar
White House. 2017. National Security Strategy of the United States of America. December. https://nssarchive.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2017.pdf.Google Scholar
White House. 2021. Interim National Security Strategic Guidance. March. https://nssarchive.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021_Interim.pdf.Google Scholar
White House. 2022a. Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States. February. www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/US-Indo-Pacific-Strategy.pdf.Google Scholar
White House. 2022b. Phnom Penh Statement on the US–Japan–Republic of Korea Trilateral Partnership for the Indo-Pacific. November 13. www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/11/13/phnom-penh-statement-on-trilateral-partnership-for-the-indo-pacific/.Google Scholar
White House. 2023a. Statement from President Joe Biden on Japan–ROK Announcement. March 5. www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/05/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-japan-rok-announcement/.Google Scholar
White House. 2023b. The Spirit of Camp David: Joint Statement of Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States. August 18. www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/08/18/the-spirit-of-camp-david-joint-statement-of-japan-the-republic-of-korea-and-the-united-states/.Google Scholar
Wiegand, Krista E. 2015. “The Korean–Japanese Security Relationship and the Dokdo Islets Dispute,” The Pacific Review 28 (3): 347–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiegand, Krista E., and Choi, Ajin. 2017. “Nationalism, Public Opinion, and Dispute Resolution: The Dokdo/Takeshima Dispute.” Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 27 (2): 232–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeo, Andrew. 2023. South Korea–Japan Rapprochement Creates New Opportunities in the Indo-Pacific. Brookings. March 17. www.brookings.edu/articles/Korea–Japan-rapprochement-creates-new-opportunities-in-the-indo-pacific/.Google Scholar
Yoshifumi, Tawara. 2018. “Comfort Women, Textbooks, and the Rise of ‘New Right’ Revisionism.” In Denying the Comfort Women: The Japanese State's Assault on Historical Truth, edited by Nishino, Rumiko, Kim, Puja, Onozawa, Akane. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Wiegand and Lee supplementary material

Wiegand and Lee supplementary material
Download Wiegand and Lee supplementary material(File)
File 35.9 KB