Japan’s Pursuit of North Korean Summit: Failure is a Low-Cost Option

Low opportunity cost even if the summit fails
Japan’s security interests must have close cooperation with the US and South Korea

The Japanese government, pushing for a summit with North Korea, needs the support of President Joe Biden, according to a US diplomatic and security authority. The reason is that the opportunity cost is low even if the North Korea-Japan summit fails.

On the 7th (local time), Eric Gomez, a senior researcher at the Cato Institute, a US diplomatic and security research institute, argued in the diplomatic journal National Interest, “The possibility of a North Korea-Japan summit making significant progress is small. However, the cost of failure is low, so it’s worth trying.”

Gomez said, “Unlike the hostile response to the statements of South Korea or the United States, the North Korean leadership is at least receptive to the proposal of the Japanese government,” and explained, “Even if Japan’s summit efforts fail, the security situation will not worsen than it is now.”

He refuted the argument that some were worried about the cracks in the U.S.-Japan-South Korea cooperation relationship. He said, “Concerns about cracks in the U.S.-Japan-South Korea cooperation relationship are a bad reason to oppose Japan’s attempt to dialogue with North Korea.” He added, “While Japan may not agree with the U.S. and South Korea on all issues, Japan’s core security interests are more closely linked with the U.S. and South Korea.”

Gomez said, “The current situation on the Korean Peninsula is already very bad, so even diplomatic approaches with low chances of success have more advantages,” and “The U.S. should welcome the possibility of a North Korea-Japan summit.”

Previously, Kim Jong Un met with then-U.S. President Donald Trump in June 2019. However, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, he fell into long-term diplomatic isolation.

North Korea is currently holding high-level talks with China but has not held a leaders’ meeting. The most recent summit, with President Vladimir Putin last September, was virtually the only one.