Amid growing uncertainties caused by the breakdown of the second U.S.-North Korea summit, analysts are wondering whether U.S. President Donald Trump's administration can foster a cooperative relationship with Japan and South Korea to improve regional stability.
Disputes between the two U.S. allies over wartime labor compensation issues and a December incident involving the Maritime Self-Defense Force and the South Korean Navy have hampered rapport in the three-way alliance. The key to moving forward, it seems, is whether Trump will step in to mediate as his predecessor Barack Obama did in the past.
"The most important alliance management effort that the United States should be taking right now is working to improve relations between Seoul and Tokyo, which may be at their lowest point since the restoration of relations in 1965," said Kelly Magsamen, vice president for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank.