Although tensions are rising between North and South Korea, it appears that Japan and South Korea are coming into accord on anti-piracy and commerce protection. Both Japan and South Korea have decided to deploy warships to Somalia to protect commercial shipping. Although the warships won't work together directly, there apparently is agreement that Japanese warships will protect South Korean merchants, and vice-versa. The deployments will also involve some of the most distant-from-home naval activity that either country has attempted since World War II (or ever, in the South Korean case), and in Japan's case will represent an ever-more-liberal interpretation of the "self-defense" nature of Japanese military forces.
KyleMizokami:
The notion that Japan and South Korea might grow closer because of military action off the coast of Africa is something nobody could have anticipated. It's a small matter of cooperation, baby steps compared to the daily joint operations between the United States and its western allies. And the world does occasionally see countries working together that promptly go back to baiting each other (two members of NATO in particular come to mind.) It will take decades to become fully realized, but the Somalia mission, for both Japan and South Korea, is the beginning of a military partnership.
At the same time, I wonder whether the tensions with North Korea will scuttle either or both deployments. The current dispute between North and South Korea has a maritime dimension, and it's difficult to justify sending one of the ROK's most powerful warships to Africa when conflict might break out at home. Similarly, managing North Korea is one of the central missions of the JMSDF (Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force), involving both the monitoring of North Korean submarine and small boat activity, and ballistic missile defense. If the North Korean issue remains hot, both Japan and South Korea may step back from the anti-piracy deployments.
--Robert Farley
This post has been corrected--the block quote was written by Kyle Mizokami, not David Axe.
