SEOUL: SouthKorea said yesterday it will scrap an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, adecision that could escalate a dispute over history and trade and undercutsecurity cooperation on North Korea. With the decision not to extend the pact,the political and trade disputes between South Korea and Japan now extend intosome of the most sensitive national security issues in the region.
The arrangementwas designed to share information on the threat posed by North Korea's missileand nuclear activities. The decision to end it comes after North Korea launcheda series of short-range ballistic missiles in protest against what it sees asmilitary build-ups in South Korea and Japan.
The GeneralSecurity of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) was due to be automaticallyrenewed on Saturday, unless either side decided to cancel it. The decision wasannounced after an hour-long discussion within the presidential NationalSecurity Council (NSC). South Korean President Moon Jae-in approved it. Japancreated a "grave change" in the environment for bilateral securitycooperation by removing South Korea's fast-track export status, said KimYou-geun, a deputy director of the NSC.
Japan citedsecurity concerns without providing specific evidence for its decision on SouthKorea's trade status. "Under this situation, we have determined that itwould not serve our national interest to maintain an agreement we signed withthe aim of exchanging military information which is sensitive tosecurity," Kim told a news conference. Japan protested against SouthKorea's decision, the Japanese national broadcaster NHK reported.
Before theannouncement, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that thedeal bolstered security cooperation between the two countries. "Althoughties between Japan and South Korea are in a very tough situation, we believe weshould cooperate with South Korea where cooperation is necessary," Sugatold a regular news conference earlier. This week the foreign ministers of thetwo countries met outside Beijing and promised to keep talking, but failed toreach any substantive agreements.
Regionalrepercussions
The South Koreandecision is likely to be met with dismay in the United States, which fearsweakened security cooperation. South Korea's won currency extended lossesagainst the dollar in offshore non-deliverable forward trade, falling by some0.4% against the dollar in five minutes after the announcement on concern thattrade disputes with Japan could be drawn out.
Intelligencesharing is key to developing a common defense policy and strategy, and allthree countries are safer when they work together, Pentagon spokesmanLieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn said. "We encourage Japan and Korea towork together to resolve their differences," he said in a statement."I hope they can do this quickly." South Korea's foreign minister,Kang Kyung-wha, emphasized that the decision to end the intelligence pact wasbecause South Korea had lost trust in Japan.
"We willcontinue to strengthen cooperation with the United States and develop thealliance," she told reporters in Seoul. South Korea's defense ministrysaid that regardless of the end of GSOMIA, it would maintain a"stable" joint defense posture based on a robust alliance with theUnited States. One Western military source said the intelligence-sharing wassometimes limited, but nevertheless an important area of cooperation in theface of threats from North Korea.
GSOMIAfacilitated the sharing of information on North Korea's nuclear and missilethreats, which remain despite a series of summits and negotiations with NorthKorea, said Cho Tae-yong, a former South Korean national security adviser whoworked on the deal when it was first signed. "Ending GSOMIA is not onlythe wrong card to play to press Japan, but it is just not helpful for oursecurity," he said. Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institutefor Policy Studies in Seoul, agreed.
"There's alot more for us to lose than to gain," he said. "It would increaseour own security concerns and inflict diplomatic isolation upon ourselves bydestroying the foundation of trilateral security cooperation with the UnitedStates." The US envoy on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, raised the issueduring a meeting with South Korea's deputy national security adviser, KimHyun-chong, before the NSC gathering. The decision comes as China and Russiahave been more assertive in the region, flying their first joint military airpatrol together in July, which triggered an international incident with SouthKorea and Japan.
Bitter history
Before thesigning of the agreement in 2016, under US pressure, South Korea and Japanshared intelligence through the United States. South Korea went ahead with thedeal at the time despite opposition from some political parties and a largesection of the public, who remain bitter over Japan's actions during itscolonial rule of Korea from 1910 until the end of World War Two.
A 2012 attempt toseal the deal fell apart in the face of opposition in South Korea towardmilitary cooperation with Japan. Relations between the two US allies are seenat their lowest since they normalized ties in 1965, plagued by bitterness overJapan's occupation, which included the use of South Korean forced labor at someJapanese firms.
South Korea hadwarned it could reconsider the GSOMIA after Japan imposed export curbs on somematerials vital to South Korean chipmakers and stripped South Korea offast-track export status. South Korea called the Japanese action retaliationfor a South Korean Supreme Court order for Japanese companies to compensatesome of their wartime forced laborers last October. Japan condemned the ruling,saying the matter was resolved by a 1965 treaty normalizing ties. Japan citedunspecified security reasons for the export controls. - Reuters