HONOLULU -- What a week! Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is packing his bags for another trip to Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, and the United States has announced a troop transfer from South Korea to combat duty in Iraq.
Both moves look suspiciously like unilateral acts that could shake alliance commitments. That isn't necessarily so, but a failure by Washington, Tokyo and Seoul to closely coordinate on these issues will guarantee an erosion of the trust that is the foundation of their alliances. Never before has there been such a premium on communication and cooperation between these three governments.
This weekend, Koizumi will make his second trip to Pyongyang. He is looking for a breakthrough in normalization talks between Japan and North Korea. He is likely to get it in the form of the release of family members of the five Japanese abducted by the North who were allowed to return home in September 2002. The former abductees had declined to return to the North -- and their families -- as promised. Japan has made the return of the relatives a priority in negotiations with the North.