Sustainability matters at Camp David

In a Cabinet meeting Monday, President Yoon Suk Yeol defined the tripartite cooperation system established at Camp David as “a chance to transform complicated global challenges into opportunities through the demonstration of a joint leadership and responsibility.” The president stressed that the cooperation system will certainly reduce dangers for the Korean people and increase opportunities.

That represents the president’s own evaluation of the Camp David spirit and principles the three leaders agreed to at their first exclusive summit.

The three-way summit was held amid many pending issues between Korea and Japan over history, Tokyo’s persistent territorial claims on Dokdo islets, and its planned discharge of the wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plants. Nevertheless, the three heads of state agreed to the trilateral cooperation to jointly deal with the security crisis in the Korean Peninsula and global economic challenges. Their consensus on military and economic cooperation can serve as a reassurance on our security.

Smoothly managing the cooperation system carries great significance from now. As in the case of general agreements between countries, the spirit and principles of Camp David are susceptible to internal and external changes. For instance, the results of the U.S. presidential election next year or the results of next year’s parliamentary elections in Korea or political changes in Japan can determine the future of the historic agreement.

Given their common denominator of free democracy, the three countries must prepare for possible leadership change. The agreement on the sex slave issue the Park Geun-hye administration struck with Tokyo was broken by the following Moon Jae-in administration. As a result, Korea and Japan underwent a conflict over Tokyo’s export ban on materials needed to produce semiconductors in Korea.

If an international agreement benefits Korea, our governments, conservative or liberal, must uphold — and systematize — what was agreed to by the past administration. The rumored establishment of a new ambassadorial post dedicated to the Indo-Pacific theater in the Yoon administration could be part of the effort.

However, without public support, international agreements can hardly be put into action. The government and the governing People Power Party must persuade opposition parties and the general public to support his crusade. To prove the efficacy of the spirit of Camp David and sustain it, the government must come up with convincing follow-up measures.