THE ISSUE OF COMFORT WOMEN AND LIANCOURT ROCKS DISPUTE: UNRESOLVED ISSUES FOR ADVANCING U.S.-SOUTH KOREA-JAPAN TRILATERAL RELATIONSHIP

The pivot to Asia policy from the Obama administration to the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act signed into law by the Trump administration signals the importance of sustaining the U.S. influence in Asia. While the policy and the law broadly refer to Asia, the embodiment of those enactments emphasizes keeping a check on China’s influence in Asia. The U.S. foreign policy in East Asia relies on cooperation from many of its allies in the region and South Korea and Japan are arguably the two biggest allies in the East Asia region. Without support from the two nations, the U.S. cannot effectively control limiting China’s dominance in the region. This thesis attempts to shed a light on issues that placed distrust between South Korea and Japan and argue that the U.S. must intervene and mediate to overcome the issues in order for the U.S.-South Korea-Japan trilateral relationship to be successful. The issue of “Comfort Women” and the dispute surrounding the Liancourt Rocks have deteriorated the South Korea-Japan bilateral relationship. By examining the deployment of the latest missile defense system created by the U.S. and the Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation treaty, this thesis will convey the importance of building up the trilateral relationship given the rise of China for the benefit of advancing U.S. foreign policy in East Asia. The “Comfort Women” and the Liancourt Rocks dispute remaining unresolved, the U.S. will face difficult challenges to rally undivided cooperation from South Korea and Japan