U.S., Japan, Korea strengthen military cooperation: where will it lead?

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North Korea’s celebration of Navy Day received a minute’s coverage on Euro News today under the heading “No Comment.”  Indeed there is not much the television viewer can say, given that the video of the North Korean leader visiting naval headquarter together with his daughters was broadcast by Euronews without any translation. https://www.euronews.com/video/2023/08/29/watch-north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-visits-navy-headquarters-with-his-daughter

Meanwhile, Russian state television (Sixty Minutes) provided viewers not only with video but with extensive reporting on what Kim Jong Un was actually saying. His words might send a shiver up the spine of U.S. sailors on board any the naval vessels now doing exercises off the coast of the Korean peninsula.  Kim remarked that the U.S., Korean and Japanese ships now performing exercises in the neighboring waters constitute the greatest concentration of naval hardware on earth. He went on to say that North Korea is now preparing its response: to raise the nuclear capability of its own navy and to prepare for a possible nuclear war.

These developments did not escape the attention of Iran’s Press TV, which early this afternoon organized an on-air discussion of military and geopolitical developments in and around Korea.

http://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/125916

 I was pleased to join the Press TV correspondent based in Korea who has a firm command of local history and current politics in the region. My own contribution was to try to distinguish between the sound of alarm sounded by Kim over what he perceives as direct threats to Pyongyang and the real objective of the United States in raising tensions in the region: namely to bring together South Korea and Japan, countries which have no particular liking for one another, under the pretext of North Korean threats, for the sake of common effort actually directed against China.  This triangular relationship, like the forging of the AUKUS alliance and the NATO outreach to the Far East allies of the United States, is part of a strategic preparation for armed conflict with the PRC in the coming several years.

However, as I see it, this new triangle will likely give rise to formation of a counter-triangle  force, Russia-China-North Korea. This strategic alignment is as yet only beginning to emerge from Russia’s recent casting aside inhibitions and opening serious military cooperation with Pongyang. China is so far holding back, but we should have no illusions on that score if the U.S. proceeds with creation of its anti-Chinese coalition.

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2023

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Published by gilbertdoctorow

Gilbert Doctorow's latest book, "War Diaries. The Russia-Ukraine War, 2022-2023" is a unique contribution to literature on the war thanks to the author's reports on the Russian home front written during his periodic visits to St Petersburg at a time when Russia no longer issued visas and nearly all Western journalists had left the country. Doctorow's two-volume "Memoirs of a Russianist" published in 2020 also constitutes a category of its own, consisting largely of diary entries rather than reminiscences written decades later.. Volume 2 focuses on the community of 50,000 expatriate managers working and living in Moscow during the 1990s, about which none of his peers has yet to write. Gilbert Doctorow is a professional Russia watcher and actor in Russian affairs going back to 1965. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1967), a past Fulbright scholar, and holder of a Ph.D. with honors in history from Columbia University (1975). After completing his studies, Mr. Doctorow pursued a business career focused on the USSR and Eastern Europe. For twenty-five years he worked for US and European multinationals in marketing and general management with regional responsibility. From 1998-2002, Doctorow served as the Chairman of the Russian Booker Literary Prize in Moscow. During the 2010-2011 academic year, he was a Visiting scholar of the Harriman Institute, Columbia University. Mr. Doctorow is a long-time resident of Brussels.

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4 thoughts on “U.S., Japan, Korea strengthen military cooperation: where will it lead?”

  1. The main issue US has is the fact that Taiwan, being “recognized” internationally as part of China, will be problematic to be included in any security architecture/network that the US might want to put together there. A Chinese invasion or blockade on Taiwan is an ultimately an internal matter, and the US will have problems convincing its own population over getting in a military conflict with China because of Taiwan. The way the US did not protest over the fact that Ukraine tried to take Donbas back…

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  2. United States and NATO are undergoing an historical defeat in Ukraine, but they are dreaming of war against China, which will receive help from Russia… The leaders in US are crazy.

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  3. Hello Dr. Doctorow, thanks for another insightful post. One of the worst strategic blunders the U.S. made was not facilitating a peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula. This so-called military cooperation will probably lead to a devastating confrontation. Shalom, Marc

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  4. Pingback: Aug 30, 2023 – Situation Report: The World

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