AJISS-Commentary No. 159: “A Case for a Common Japan-ROK Strategic Vision” by Hiroyasu Akutsu
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies (AJISS) has just published the AJISS-Commentary No. 159 "A Case for a Common Japan-ROK Strategic Vision" by Hiroyasu Akutsu, senior fellow and professor at the National Institute for Defense Studies in Japan.
Japan-ROK security cooperation goes nowhere when populism overcomes pragmatism. With the failure to conclude GSOMIA and ACSA earlier this year, the defense community inside and outside the Japanese and South Korean governments must be greatly disappointed. On the other hand, there is some hope for the future. Japan-ROK security cooperation, which has its origin in the first Korean nuclear crisis of 1994, has expanded enough to envision the conclusion of GSOMIA and ACSA by 2012. After so many complications, hardly anyone could have expected the relationship would come this far 20 or even 10 years ago.