US President Joe Biden will receive the leaders of South Korea and Japan at his Camp David retreat on Friday. These countries are among the most important American allies in Asia, but mutual tensions have long stood in the way of effective cooperation. That now appears to be gradually changing.
The meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is seen as an important step towards further cooperation. The three leaders have met before, but always at a larger international summit. It will be the first time that they hold such a three-country summit.
According to American media, it is also the first time that Biden has invited other world leaders to Camp David. Agreements are expected to be made at the meeting on joint military and economic initiatives. The leaders can also agree to meet more often in this composition.
Japanese domination
The tensions between Japan and South Korea are related to the Japanese domination of the Korean peninsula in the last century. The countries are now rapidly working towards better relations as international unrest intensifies. This has to do with the conflict in Ukraine, but also with concerns about the assertive China and North Korea’s weapons programs.
It is feared that North Korea will take military action to protest the summit, for example by carrying out a missile test. The dictatorship regularly causes international unrest and has previously strongly condemned military cooperation between the US, Japan and South Korea.
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