Japan, South Korea Abruptly Pull Out of NATO Summit

A subtle rift is emerging between NATO and some of its most trusted Asian partners. The leaders of Japan and South Korea, two of America’s closest treaty allies in the Indo-Pacific, abruptly canceled plans to attend the NATO summit being held at The Hague from June 24 to June 25. While neither Seoul nor Tokyo are members of the alliance, NATO has invited both countries, along with Australia and New Zealand, to its annual summits since 2022.

The unexpected cancelations underscore rising tensions with Washington over both trade and defense spending and come amid its growing military rivalry with Beijing.

Tokyo and Seoul Face Calls to Increase Defense Spending, Seek Meeting With Trump

Frustration with Washington appears to have driven Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s decisions to pull out of the summit. Ishiba’s cancelation comes days after Tokyo scrapped annual “2+2” security talks between the allies’ top defense and diplomatic officials. The 2+2 cancellation followed friction between Tokyo and Washington over defense spending toplines. The Pentagon has publicly demanded Japan allocate 5 percent of its gross domestic product to defense, far higher than Tokyo’s current plan to reach 2 percent within the next two years. NATO has set a new 5 percent defense spending target for member states.

Lee’s decision to not attend reportedly stemmed from concerns over domestic politics and lingering tensions from the Israel-Iran war, according to The Chosun Daily, a South Korean newspaper. While some leading figures of Lee’s own Democratic Party claimed that he wanted to protest U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, other senior aides noted the low likelihood of securing a one-on-one meeting with President Donald Trump.

A Growing Rift Between Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul

Ishiba’s and Lee’s cancelations come as both their countries are negotiating new trade and defense arrangements with Washington. The United States and Japan have struggled to finalize a lasting trade agreement following Trump’s threat to unilaterally impose a 25 percent tariff on Japanese cars and auto parts and a 24 percent blanket tariff on all Japanese imports in April. The tariffs have been delayed until July 9.

The United States and South Korea have also struggled to strengthen bilateral ties. Despite updating its free trade agreement with the United States in 2018, Seoul and Washington continue to negotiate a new deal after talks were partially interrupted by Korea’s presidential election in early June. The Trump administration has also pressured Seoul to increase payments to reimburse the cost of stationing U.S. forces on the peninsula despite the new five-year agreement on reimbursements negotiated last year.

The U.S. Should Expand NATO-Asia Cooperation

The tensions that led to Tokyo’s and Seoul’s withdrawals from the NATO summit — which coincides with the end of major Chinese naval exercises off the coast of Japan — could potentially undermine Washington’s efforts to counter Beijing.

In response, the United States should encourage NATO to open an office in Japan, a long-term goal that would strengthen collaboration between the alliance and Tokyo. Beyond that, Washington should engage more constructively on defense spending-related concerns while accelerating efforts to enhance interoperability between U.S. and Japanese forces. Lastly, Washington should prioritize finalizing trade deals with both countries to unlock broader cooperation on other pressing matters, including building trusted supply chains.

Jack Burnham is a research analyst in the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Miles Kershner is an intern. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Jack on X @JackBurnham802. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.