Us-japan-rok Security Triangle

Although there only exits a shallow strait between Japan and South Korea geographically, however, they are separated by ten thousand torrents and a thousand crags psychologically due to Japan's long colonialist rule over South Korea in the history. Simultaneously, it seems to be concluded that the two countries have formed a special relationship either distant or close to some degree through the United States, their common patron. Japan and South Korea respectively became alliances with the United States in 1951 and 1953, and thus forming de facto security triangle relations of the United States, Japan and South Korea. However, comparatively speaking, the relations between the United States and Japan and those between the United States and South Korea are more stable, while strictly speaking, Japan and South Korea do not form alliances. In the field of international relations, the action and reaction among three states or actors are generally called trilateral relations or triangle relations. The key for trilateral relations to work lies in the mutually restraint and balanced relations existing among the three countries. Lowell Dittmer, an American scholar, proposes three styles of trilateral relations with original ideas, i.e. menage a trios, romantic triangle and stable marriage. Additionally, the theory of Fayol's Bridge is often mentioned when doing researches on issues of forming trilateral relations. Therefore, this thesis is planned to use the theoretical and conceptual framework of the above mentioned trilateral relations and Fayol's Bridge to analyze the history of the formation, development and changes of trilateral relations among South Korea, Japan and the United States after WWII, and some views about its future trends will be also proposed.