WI: Japan and South Korea in NATO

Philip

Donor
Didn't stop Turkey.

For the purpose of the North Atlantic Treaty, member's territory in Europe and North America and Atlantic islands north of Tropic of Cancer are covered. This effectively obligates Japan and ROK to defend Europe with no one obligated to defend them.

Note that this also means that Hawai'i lacks NATO coverage.

I suspect that Japan's constitution would make joining any such alliance problematic.
 
Living in Korea, it's kind of hard for me to imagine the public taking a sufficient interest in European affairs to give NATO operations a sustainable degree of popularity. As I've mentioned elsewhere on this forum, when discussing World War II with Koreans, they often seem barely aware, if at all, that Hitler was allied with the Japanese, for example.

Not to single out Koreans as uniquely uninformed. You'd probably get a similar degree of "Huh?" among the Canadian population if it were suggested that they join ANZAC. (Though the British-connection might help a bit there.)
 
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