Abstract
Japan–South Korea security relations seemed to be going so well. The two countries, along with their American ally, met on the sidelines of the June 2012 IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore and formally agreed to institutionalise a ministerial-level defence trilateral. During the same month, Japan, South Korea and the United States conducted joint naval exercises in the Yellow Sea, not far from China and the Korean Peninsula. At least one respected authority on Korean Peninsula security issues (Peter Beck) has even advocated the establishment of a formal alliance relationship between Tokyo and Seoul.
Just as significantly, Japan and South Korea were due in late June to sign a bilateral intelligence-sharing agreement that would have provided a legal framework facilitating the direct exchange of classified information relating to, amongst other common security challenges, North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes and China’s military modernisation. The pact was significant in that it was to be the first of a military nature signed between these two erstwhile adversaries since the end of the Second World War.
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