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Regional security in North-east Asia would be enhanced by theatre-missile-defence (TMD) cooperation between the US, South Korea and Japan. The importance of TMD deployment facilities in the region increased substantially in 1997, with China becoming increasingly assertive while North Korea is maintaining its missile programme. The US, South Korea and Japan would benefit from TMD deployments by South Korea and Japan, with South Korea in particular under direct missile threat.

The successful implementation of Pres Bill Clinton's nuclear policy will discourage the use of nuclear weapons and restrict their proliferation. However, various domestic constraints and existing geopolitical realities have prevented the implementation of Clinton's guidelines for global denuclearization, which is the focus of future US nuclear policy. US positions on the future of nuclear weapons and the global non-proliferation regime is likely to remain ambiguous and unclear until existing domestic and global situations change to demand a definitive policy.