Japan, U.S., South Korea must face lingering issues from Camp David

TOKYO -- Nearly one year has passed since the leaders of Japan, the U.S. and South Korea released a historic joint statement following their summit at Camp David, the U.S. presidential retreat, near Washington last August. The statement called for expanding trilateral cooperation beyond the focus on North Korea to address challenges across the entire Indo-Pacific region, including coordinated deterrence efforts against China.

Since then, the three countries have implemented a system to share real-time information on North Korean missiles. They have also conducted joint exercises at sea, in the air and in other domains. However, enhanced cooperation has underscored their differences on issues that remained unresolved at Camp David.