A quantum jump to trilateral cooperation

President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a milestone agreement after their first exclusive summit at Camp David on Friday.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a milestone agreement after their first exclusive summit at Camp David on Friday. The three leaders adopted the “Camp David principles,” a guideline on the tripartite cooperation in the future, and “the spirit of Camp David,” which contains visions for the cooperation and detailed ways to implement them. The leaders agreed to hold the trilateral summit regularly and conduct a joint military exercise annually.

The three countries have so far pursued the U.S.-led security cooperation based on the Korea-U.S. and U.S.-Japan alliances. But after the summit at Camp David, a new trilateral cooperation system was established, representing a quantum jump in their security coordination. As a result, some security experts have questioned if the development signifies an escalation of their relations to a quasi-military alliance.

But clearly, the enhanced cooperation represents their joint response to the seismic shift in geopolitics and security environments stemming from the deepening hegemony war between the U.S. and China, the mounting nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, and the Ukraine war. The trio also denounced North Korea for its military provocations and declared the complete denuclearization principle toward Pyongyang. But at the same time, they urged North Korea to return to the negotiating table without any strings attached, which reflects their intention not to blindly push the North into a corner. Directly mentioning China, they expressed their opposition to a unilateral move to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific theater, while urging China to peacefully resolve the disputes over the Taiwan Strait. The deletion of a hawkish wording like “opposition to changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait by force” from their statement reportedly reflected President Yoon’s position on the issue.

The agenda items for the summit were extended to space, cyber and AI realms beyond diplomatic and security issues, as well as the traditional economic, trade, technology and energy fields. Another noticeable move was their agreement to start a meeting among finance ministers of the three countries.

Putting their agreements into action will certainly pose many challenges. Fortunately, the three leaders accentuated the need for being united to tackle them, which points to the need for both Korea and Japan to improve their relations for close coordination.

A bigger risk is apparent resistance from North Korea, China and Russia. The two allies must brace for the possibility of North Korea resorting to a military provocation during the joint Ulchi Freedom Shield drills from August 21 to 31. China’s state mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency attacked the Camp David summit for building tension. The Yoon administration needs to watch closely if Beijing chooses to backtrack on its deregulation on Chinese people’s group tour to Korea.