August saw a series of missile provocations from North Korea in the midst of growing tension between South Korea and Japan; the hostility against one another reached its peak as Seoul eventually announced its decision to end a military intelligence-sharing agreement, the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), with Tokyo and later filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Japan’s trade restrictions. Seoul’s pullout from the agreement, which was signed in 2016, aroused mixed feelings among Koreans but surely worried Washington; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he is “disappointed,” and urged the two nations to continue to engage. In the meantime, President Donald Trump downplayed the repeated threats from Pyongyang while demanding that Seoul raise its share of the defense costs for the US troops in Korea, a move that angered many, especially conservatives, in Seoul. President Moon Jae-in, on top of the diplomatic turmoil, had wrestled with nominating his former aide as justice minister, which was followed by his lowest approval ratings since taking office, and flew to New York to attend the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly. During the visit, he met with Trump for the first time in three months and reinforced the importance of the US-ROK alliance to overcome Washington’s concern over the weakened trilateral security cooperation between the US, Japan and South Korea. But no bilateral meeting was held between Moon and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.

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