Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle: Studies of the East Asian Institute (Columbia Hardcover)

In the first in-depth study of this puzzling relationship in over fifteen years, the author compares the commonly accepted explanation for this relationship -- historical enmity -- with one that focuses on policies of the United States as the key driver of Japan-ROK relations. He finds that while history and emotion certainly affect the ways in which Japanese and Koreans regard each other, cooperation and dissension in the relationship are better understood through what he calls a "quasi-alliance" model: two states that remain unallied but have a third party as a common ally.

This model finds that the "normal" state of Japan-ROK relations is characterized by friction that stems not only from history, but also from fundamental asymmetries in Japanese and Korean expectations of support from each other. The author shows, however, that in periods when the American defense commitment to the region is weak, Japan-ROK relations exhibit significantly less contention over bilateral issues. Without the prop of U.S. assistance, the two countries are seemingly willing to overlook the usual causes of friction and to adopt a more pragmatic approach. The author discusses the effects of democratization and the post-ColdWar era on the triangular relationship, and addresses the prospects of a united Korea and its future relations with Japan, the United States, and China.

The book covers the period from 1965 to 1998 and draws on recently declassified U.S. documents, internal Korean government documents, and interviews with former policy makers in the United States, Japan, and Korea.