On The Relationship Between The DPRK Nuclear Issue And The Japan-US Alliance

The relationship between the DPRK nuclear issue and the Japan-US alliance can date back to the Korean War and the birth of Japan-US alliance. Yet the Korean War is not the main factor for promoting the naissance of the Japan-US alliance while the alliance is substantially the production of the struggle for ideology between US and USSR. The development of the alliance worsens North Korea's perspective of security. Therefore, holding ground on its own national condition, North Korea develops nuclear weapons to guarantee the national security. Besides, in an objective manner, the evolvement of the alliance is continually reshaping North Korea's perspective of security, thus pushing up the waves of the DPRK nuclear crisis.The effects exerted by the DPRK nuclear issue have their appearance in there aspects. First, it leads to the difference of perspective within the Japan-US alliance towards North Korea Threat and this difference is based on the differences Japan and US have in those aspects as history, geography, and nuclear processing experience. Second, it shakes the mutual trust within the alliance because the DPRK nuclear issue is a test of the US's efficiency in providing a nuclear umbrella for Japan, and exerts influence on Japan's nuclear policy. Third, it promotes the adjustment of the alliance's internal structure and pattern from hierarchical cooperation to "peer to peer" cooperation. However, the way the alliance interferes with the DPRK nuclear issue is a team work system of Japan, US and South Korea. In the process of coping with the DPRK nuclear crisis, this system functions well to some extent, but it has defects in itself which refer to the issues in history between Japan and South Korea, as well as a lack of mutual trust, thus difficult to cooperate with other deeply.The paper elaborates in the end the thought in coping with the DPRK nuclear issue within the duration of Barack Obama's government, whose strategic intention is to limit the issue in a controllable scope. The government will flexibly plan various forces as whole to realize the interest of United States in the stable alliance, institution and framework. The Six-Party Talks will still be the top choice for US and Japan-US alliance will still play its role in coping with the issue.