U.S.-Japan-ROK trilateral security cooperation has gained significant momentum in the last year. The three countries’ summit at Camp David in August marked a new chapter, not only in semi-institutionalizing the trilateral partnership but also in envisioning cooperation on broader security issues in the Indo-Pacific region, most notably the growing North Korean nuclear threat.

Despite the prospects, lingering issues threaten the partnership’s effectiveness and sustainability. The most obvious problem lies in the state of political ties between the states, but more specifically domestic politics, where the momentum for greater trilateral cooperation is susceptible to revisionist