Asia's Alliance Triangle US-Japan-South Korea Relations at a Tumultuous Time

Since 2013, the US-led alliance triangle with Japan and South Korea has defied expectations. Drawing together articles commissioned from leading experts in all three countries by the online journal The Asan Forum, this book reconsiders what we thought we knew about the three legs of this triangle. Varied chapters cover the US-South Korea alliance at 60 years, Japan-South Korea relations under stress, Japan's national security policy, US relations with both allies, and Japanese and Korean national identities. A picture emerges of two strong US alliances increasingly at odds with each other, and of Japan-South Korea relations newly troubled not only by intensifying national identities but also by divergent strategic calculations. This volume shows how vital this triangle is to understanding US policy in Asia by bringing to light the dynamics of triangularity in the shadow of China's rise and the North Korean threat.