now last week Japan expanded controls over exports to South Korea of items
ranging from ball bearings to precision machine tools on top of chemicals used
to make advanced semiconductors and digital flash screens as part of our
week-long series of seeking experts views on various aspects of the Seoul
Tokyo trade row and their escalating discord we focus on its threats and
diplomatic and security cooperation today joining me live from Washington DC
is Scott Snyder director of US Korea policy at the Council on Foreign
Relations Scott great to see you again yeah glad to be with you Scott the
latest pressure point up between South Korea and Japan is on the surface a
trade spat Tokyo says as a ladies export restrictions decision was about its
national security Seoul says it was a retaliation in a long-running dispute
over Koreans forced to work for Japan during World War two now others say it
has a lot to do with geopolitics what is this really about
well I've argued in the past with the co-author that this is really about
identity and the way that Japan and South Korea each defined themselves
using the other country as the other and so if we look at it as an identity
conflict I think that it just goes to show how deep the gap is between the two
sides and how out of sync they are in terms of mindset and security perception
at this moment speaking of security obviously the toll of this dispute is
also starting to go beyond the economic damage at the trade standoff there are
also concerns that the economic decoupling of South Korea and Japan
could lead to a dis integration of a secured political cooperation between
unwilling partners that we've just seen North Korea fire another to predict
tiles into at the East Sea just hours ago and which was a fourth time
in the last 13 days what are your concerns are is there a concern in this
part as well there has been an effort to try to keep Japan and South Korea on the
same page and looking at North Korea but at the same time these sorts of tensions
on the economic front or balance just spillover I think the North Koreans are
very aware of the opportunities that are created by these kinds of tensions
between Japan and South Korea and it looks like they're trying to take
advantage of that at the same time the North Koreans are very much focused on
signalling that they are opposed to us south korean exercises while they're
still leaving the door open to the possibility of dialogue with President
Trump right um South Korean government officials have said that they were
carefully considering withdrawing from a vital Intel sharing deal that South
Korea and Japan which are both of course which both host American military bases
signed in 2016 at really Washington's urging what are the consequences of this
action pulling out of just Omiya well I think the main consequence would be that
it would create a new issue a new gap in u.s. South Korea relations at a time
when I think that both sides should be trying to work with each other there are
a number of other issues emerging that our potential points of friction between
the United States and South Korea including the issue of burden sharing
but this key somya issue is one that I think is is worrisome in the context of
the Japan South Korea disputes and it really is a distraction from what we
should be focusing on the challenge from North Korea and the broader shifts and
geostrategic relations generated by China's rising influence in
the region right so there's another us-china trade a trade war going on with
China u.s. just recently just hours ago designating China as a currency
manipulator now despite the dangers of a deepening divide between its allies the
US however has been reluctant to actively get involved to repair this
rift why so I mean and what are your prospects from here on forth the rift
between South Korea Japan well obviously the US has focused on many different
issues right now including us-china relations Japan South Korea I think the
Trump administration has been behind the curve
in terms of addressing some of those kinds of issues and it really is
potentially detrimental to the US interests I think the US should be
pushing a lot harder for a timeout in Japan South Korea relations where both
sides agree not to make the situation worse Japan by pledging a freeze on
implementation of some of the export restriction measures and South Korea by
putting a freeze on implementation of the Supreme Court ruling this would buy
time for both sides to work on reestablishing a stable relationship I'd
like to see the United States take a more active role in pursuing that kind
of timeout and then also helping both sides to bridge the gap basically the
u.s. should be creating an enabling environment for stabilization of the
Japan South Korea relationship right and for the u.s. sake as well as it really
has a Security Alliance architecture here in Northeast Asia all right Scott
Snyder senior fellow at Council on Foreign Relations and our favorite go-to
expert on security in Northeast Asia many many things as always for your
insights No thank you so much