Reenacted procession of diplomatic mission sent to Japan People dressed in traditional Korean clothes reenact a procession of Joseon Tongsinsa, a diplomatic delegation sent by the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) to Japan, at Gyeonghui Palace in Seoul on April 24, 2025, as part of events to mark the 60th anniversary this year of diplomatic ties between South Korea and Japan. The dispatch of the Korean envoys began in 1607 for political reasons to promote peace after a destructive seven-year war between the two sides, but its functions were later transformed into something more cultural. A total of 12 such teams of envoys were dispatched until 1811. (Yonhap)
From the U.S. perspective it makes sense to have the flexibility to redeploy troops from Korea to assist with a Taiwan contingency. However, this Op-Ed in the Korea Times is against because of some hypothetical possibility of Japanese troops on Korea soil:
Japan’s recent articulation of a “One Theater” doctrine — encompassing the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula — marks a troubling shift in strategic thinking that risks destabilizing Northeast Asia. Proposed by Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and seemingly welcomed by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, this doctrine is being presented as a pragmatic response to a volatile regional security environment. In reality, it threatens to undermine national sovereignty, disrupt the delicate geopolitical balance of the Indo-Pacific and draw democratic allies into conflicts not of their choosing.
At its core, the “one battlefield” concept posits that regional flashpoints — such as Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula and the East China Sea — are so interconnected that they must be treated as a unified operational theater. While this might serve military planning purposes, it dangerously flattens political nuance in favor of operational efficiency. It treats sovereign nations not as independent actors with unique security needs, but as interchangeable assets within a broader strategic front defined by Japan and, potentially, the United States.
Of particular concern is the implication that, under this doctrine, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) could be redeployed from the Korean Peninsula to support operations in the event of a Taiwan contingency. Such a move would not only risk undermining deterrence on the peninsula — where a fragile armistice holds between South and North Korea — but also compromise South Korea’s core defense posture. The Korean Peninsula is not a backwater theater; it is a primary front involving a nuclear-armed adversary. To subordinate Korean security to cross-strait dynamics is both strategically unsound and politically inflammatory.
Historical memory further complicates this issue. Any framework that implicitly or explicitly involves Japanese military activity on or near the Korean Peninsula is politically incendiary. The legacy of Japan’s 1910-45 colonial occupation of Korea continues to cast a long shadow over bilateral relations. For many South Koreans across the political spectrum, the idea of Japanese boots on or near Korean soil — however hypothetical — remains an emotional and constitutional red line. Even under the banner of collective defense, such a scenario would provoke fierce domestic backlash and could fracture regional unity.
You can read more at the link, but it almost sounds like this author rather have North Korean and Chinese Soldiers on ROK territory instead of Japanese. With that said I cannot think of a scenario where Japanese troops would be needed on Korean soil. Japan’s geography makes it an important location to deploy U.S. aircraft, ships, and supplies from for either a Taiwan or North Korea contingency. They Japanese military will not be needed to deploy troops to Korea.
This author is really using the deployment of Japanese troops to Korea as a red herring to obscure the author’s real concern which is the flexibility of the U.S. to deploy troops from Korea for a Taiwan contingency.
It the coming years USFJ is going to turn into a warfighting headquarters much like USFK in Korea:
U.S. Forces Japan has begun reorganizing into a “warfighting headquarters,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday during his first trip to the Indo-Pacific since taking office. Hegseth that day discussed restructuring USFJ amid regional security challenges with Japanese Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani at Camp Ichigaya, the Ministry of Defense headquarters in central Tokyo.
The Defense Department has begun the first phase of upgrading USFJ into a joint force command better equipped to coordinate with its Japanese counterpart, Hegseth told reporters after the meeting. “This also means reorganizing U.S. Forces Japan into a warfighting headquarters, increasing its staff and giving its commander the authorities needed to accomplish new missions,” he said
You can read more at the link, but a difference I see between the future USFJ and USFK is that the USFK commander has operational control of US and ROK forces during a conflict. The future USFJ will instead coordinate with Japanese Joint opeational command during conflict.
Let me get this right, North Korea can regularly fire missiles near and over Japan, but Japan when Japan install missiles on its own territory in response North Korea is now upset?:
North Korea warned Japan against stationing long-range missiles on Kyushu, accusing the country of furthering a “history of aggression,” according to a report Thursday from the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Japan is considering deploying an upgraded version of its Type-12 surface-to-ship missiles there at the end of the next fiscal year, Kyodo News reported Sunday, citing unnamed government sources. Japan’s fiscal year runs April 1 to March 31. The deployment to Japan’s southernmost main island would put the missiles — expected to have a range of about 620 miles, according to Kyodo — within reach of North Korea and China’s coast.
A new development in this story: the restaurant owner was confronted by another Japanese livestreamer and got on his knees to bow in apology. He claimed he regrets making threatening phone calls to the other streamer and will close his restaurant. https://t.co/7i58U9SA9spic.twitter.com/A2LyLFp1z2
I wonder if these kids will get suspended for ditching classes or is the school supporting this?:
More than 100 high school students — the children of Navy parents and Defense Department employees — staged a half-hour walkout Friday morning to protest Pentagon policies targeting diversity programs. About 150 students at Nile C. Kinnick High School on Yokosuka, the headquarters of the U.S. 7th Fleet, circled the school courtyard, chanting and carrying banners.
“I love this school; I think one of its greatest strengths is its diversity,” said senior Chase Hassell, president of the student council. “I think we have such a great multicultural community, and I think that it’s important for the development of all children — not just us — to have experiences with different people of different beliefs and backgrounds,” Hassell told Stars and Stripes after the demonstration.
The protest pushed back on a Jan. 27 executive order by President Donald Trump ending diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs created under previous administrations.
Ukrainian influencer that came to Japan three years ago on a refugee visa quickly gained popularity among Japanese simps for being cute and having the Japanese ability of a toddler.
Trilateral ties may be unshakeable, but good luck trying to get North Korea to denuclearize because that is pretty much a fantasy as this point:
The top diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan held their first meeting since the launch of the new Trump administration, reaffirming their “unshakable trilateral partnership.”
Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and his American and Japanese counterparts Marco Rubio and Takeshi Iwaya held talks on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
According to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, the top diplomats discussed ways to enhance trilateral cooperation, responses to North Korea issues including its nuclear weapons, regional situations, and ways to expand economic cooperation.
In a joint statement, the three sides reaffirmed their resolute commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea.
