Description: Examines intra-alliance politics between the United States, Japan, and South Korea.
Brief description: Sung Chull Kim is Visiting Research Fellow at Seoul National University Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, where he also served as Humanities Korea Professor until retiring in 2021. His many books include Partnership within Hierarchy: The Evolving East Asian Security Triangle, also published by SUNY Press.
Review Quotes:
"...an interesting and forward-looking discussion of post-Second World War and post-Cold War dynamics between the United States, Japan and South Korea ... Kim offers an original insight into east Asian security and the book is a timely addition to the literature both on regional security as well as on intra-alliance politics. It is especially useful as a theoretical contribution to triangular security and is particularly timely given that Japan has expressed interest in forming a triangular security arrangement with the United States and China." - International Affairs
"...the book offers important insights for the study of international relations and foreign policy, particularly in the post-Cold War period, when the US is often bound together with allies that may not necessarily share the same strategic interests." - Pacific Affairs
"This book adds a thoughtful framework to our understanding of the United States-Japan-South Korea triangle over six decades. It also serves the field well by linking six critical decisions in Japan-Korea relations over this time period and the US impact to the overall framework." - Gilbert Rozman, author of The Sino-Russian Challenge to the World Order: National Identities, Bilateral Relations, and East versus West in the 2010s
"Sung Chull Kim provides a fascinating narrative for the evolution of the triangular relationship." - Terence Roehrig, coauthor of South Korea's Rise: Economic Development, Power, and Foreign Relations