 | |
| Formation | 18 August 2023; 2 years ago (2023-08-18) |
|---|---|
| Type | Military alliance |
| Purpose | Collective security |
| Membership | |
TheAmerican–Japanese–Korean trilateral pact orCamp David Principles is a security pact betweenJapan,South Korea, and theUnited States which was announced on August 18, 2023, atCamp David in the United States. The pact commits the three countries to a set of agreements and is one of the U.S.-led international security alliances, includingQuad Plus andAUKUS.[1]
From 1910 to 1945, Korea wasruled by theEmpire of Japan. Under Japanese rule, Korean women—primarily from South Korea—wereforced intosexual slavery by theImperial Japanese Army. Japan's rule of Korea has strained relations between the two countries.[2] With the incoming administrations of South Korean presidentYoon Suk Yeol and Japanese prime ministerFumio Kishida, both countries made significant amends. In March 2023, Yoon ended the South Korean government's requests to Japanese companies to pay Koreanlaborers enslaved duringWorld War II.[3] South Korea and Japan have supported Ukraine during theRussian invasion of Ukraine as China and Russia have furtheredtheir relations.[4]
China's presence in theIndo-Pacific region has concerned the United States;relations between the two countries has remained low.[5] In October 2022, North Korea fired a missile over Japan,[6] followed by a nuclear threat to South Korea in March 2023.[7] Through an agreement with the United States, Japan and South Korea have real-time information on North Korea's ballistic missiles.[8]
In April 2023, U.S. PresidentJoe Biden announced that any attacks against South Korea by North Korea would result in the "end" ofKim Jong Un's rule. At theWhite House, Yoon vowed toproduce nuclear weapons.[9] Japan declined to participate in a move attributed by the United States to domestic politics.[10]
AtCamp David on 18 August 2023, Biden announced the pact,[11] marking the first time that international leaders visited the retreat since 2015, when then-presidentBarack Obama held aGulf Cooperation Council summit there. The summit was the first time in Biden's presidency that journalists were allowed on Camp David's grounds.[12]
The pact implements a formalcasus foederis in which a threat to one member constitutes a threat against all, but does not mirrorArticle 5 of theNorth Atlantic Treaty; the response to an attack against one member must be discussed. The pact also improves trilateral ballistic missile defense and military exercises. The three countries will develop a security framework for the Indo-Pacific region.[10]
The first Indo-Pacific Dialogue, building upon commitments made during the August 2023 Camp David summit, was held in Washington, D.C., on January 5, 2024.[13] In a joint statement released by theUS State Department, which described the dialogue mechanism (that will be hosted annually) as a new chapter in the trilateral relationship, Japan (represented by foreign ministry foreign policy bureau director-general Kobe Yasuhiro), Korea (represented by deputy minister for political affairs Chung Byung-won), and the US (represented byAssistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific AffairsDaniel J. Kritenbrink) focused on discussing collaborating with Southeast Asian and Pacific Island countries and emphasized the need for regional economic security enhancement.[13]
