US No.2 diplomat Campbell seeks to lock in Japan, South Korea

11/10/2024 6:22

        U.S. Deputy Secretary of
        State Kurt Campbell warned on Thursday against any attempts to
        undermine cooperation between South Korea and Japan as the Biden
        administration seeks to lock in a historic improvement in ties
        between the two countries as part of efforts to stand up to
        China.
        
        Campbell, who said he will meet new Japanese Prime Minister
        Shigeru Ishiba's administration next week and hold a trilateral
        meeting in South Korea, told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
        Washington had sometimes remained quiet in the past if it
        thought countries "were taking steps to undermine the tripartite
        sphere."
        
        "We will no longer be that way ... We will speak out if we
        see things in either South Korea or Japan that we think
        undermine the spirit of the future associated with these three
        countries."
        
        Campbell did not elaborate, although nationalists in both
        Japan and South Korea have opposed closer relations given the
        historical enmity between the two countries.
        
        Beijing has also expressed its opposition to closer
        Japan-Korea ties, which it sees as part of a broader U.S. effort
        to encircle China militarily.
        
        South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Ishiba held their
        first summit on Thursday.
        
        Seoul is seeking to continue improving relations under
        Tokyo's new leadership, building on the progress by Yoon and
        Ishiba's predecessor, Fumio Kishida. Yoon's office said Ishiba
        had said he would like to continue to develop relations.
        
        Campbell noted that Japan and South Korea had agreed as part
        of deepening ties to develop a secretariat to manage the
        trilateral relationship, which he said would "continue to be a
        major undertaking of this and any future administration."
        
        The possibility of a second Donald Trump administration
        emerging from the Nov. 5 U.S. election has caused some alarm in
        both Japan and South Korea, given his past questioning of the
        value of traditional U.S. alliances, and the Biden
        administration has sought to institutionalize three-way ties
        with the long-time U.S. allies.