A discussion on the ongoing US-ROK cost-sharing talks that explored their implications for later US-Japan talks. Two experts joined the conversation: Mintaro Oba, a former U.S. State Department official specializing in the Korean Peninsula and expert commentator on U.S. foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region, and Yuki Tatsumi, Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the East Asia Program and Director of the Japan Program at the Stimson Center. Moderator Clint Work asked the participating speakers about past approaches to alliance cost-sharing talks; the role ROK and Japanese domestic politics played in alliance relations; persistent troubles in Seoul-Tokyo ties; the different ways the ROK and Japan approach China; and the possible implications for a second Trump term or political transition in November 2020.