US No.2 diplomat Campbell seeks to lock in Japan, South Korea progress ahead of election
By David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON, Oct 10 (Reuters) -U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell warned on Thursday against any attempts to undermine cooperation between South Korea and Japan as the Biden administration seeks to lock in a historic improvement in ties between the two countries as part of efforts to stand up to China.
Campbell, who said he will meet new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's administration next week and hold a trilateral meeting in South Korea, told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Washington had sometimes remained quiet in the past if it thought countries "were taking steps to undermine the tripartite sphere."
"We will no longer be that way ... We will speak out if we see things in either South Korea or Japan that we think undermine the spirit of the future associated with these three countries."
Campbell did not elaborate, although nationalists in both Japan and South Korea have opposed closer relations given the historical enmity between the two countries.
Beijing has also expressed its opposition to closer Japan-Korea ties, which it sees as part of a broader U.S. effort to encircle China militarily.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Ishiba held their first summit on Thursday.
Seoul is seeking to continue improving relations under Tokyo's new leadership, building on the progress by Yoon and Ishiba's predecessor, Fumio Kishida. Yoon's office said Ishiba had said he would like to continue to develop relations.
Campbell noted that Japan and South Korea had agreed as part of deepening ties to develop a secretariat to manage the trilateral relationship, which he said would "continue to be a major undertaking of this and any future administration."
The possibility of a second Donald Trump administration emerging from the Nov. 5 U.S. election has caused some alarm in both Japan and South Korea, given his past questioning of the value of traditional U.S. alliances, and the Biden administration has sought to institutionalize three-way ties with the long-time U.S. allies.
Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Daniel Wallis
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