Divisions of labour: security cooperation between Japan, South Korea and the United States
Clarifying Japan’s and South Korea’s security roles and responsibilities in cooperation with the United States is critical to enhancing strategic cohesion and deterrence in the western Pacific. In particular, Japan and South Korea can help improve deterrence and military effectiveness through an all...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/182815 https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2025.2459020 |
| Summary: | Clarifying Japan’s and South Korea’s security roles and responsibilities in cooperation with the United States is critical to enhancing strategic cohesion and deterrence in the western Pacific. In particular, Japan and South Korea can help improve deterrence and military effectiveness through an alliance division of labour with respect to the Taiwan Strait. Given their divergent strategic priorities and limited abilities to balance Beijing directly, Seoul and Tokyo should develop roles involving cost-imposition and denial. A better coordinated trilateral defence relationship along these lines could complicate China’s strategic calculations by curtailing its ability to escalate a conflict over Taiwan into a regional conflagration. Such a development would also narrow the gap in strategic priorities between Seoul and Tokyo. |
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