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South Korea to scrap military intel-sharing pact with Japan
SEOUL, Aug 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – South Korea said Thursday it will
terminate its military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan — a move Tokyo
immediately protested against — in an intensifying trade and diplomatic
dispute between the neighbours.
The decision comes with the countries at loggerheads following a run of
South Korean court rulings against Japanese firms, requiring them to pay for
forced labour during World War II.
“Maintaining this agreement, which was signed to facilitate the exchange
of sensitive military information, does not serve our national interest,”
said Kim You-geun, a national security official at Seoul’s presidential Blue
House.
In a series of tit-for-tat measures, earlier this month Japan had
removed South Korea from a so-called “white list” of countries that receive
preferential export treatment.
Tokyo had done so citing security concerns and a loss of trust with
South Korea, but did not provide “concrete evidence to support those
allegations”, said Kim.
This caused “fundamental changes” to the nature of defence cooperation,
he added.
The end of the General Security of Military Information Agreement
(GSOMIA) marks a fresh low point in relations between the two democracies and
is likely to be seen with dismay in Washington.
“I have to say the decision to end the pact by the South Korean
government is a complete misjudgement of the current regional security
environment and it is extremely regrettable,” Japanese Foreign Minister Taro
Kono said in a statement later on Thursday.
“We cannot accept the claims by the South Korean side and we will
strongly protest against the South Korean government,” Kono said, adding that
Tokyo had summoned the South Korean ambassador.
Both Japan and South Korea are market economies and US allies faced with
an overbearing China and nuclear-armed North Korea.
But their bilateral relations continue to be heavily affected by Japan’s
colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
The pair’s worst squabble in years, which has seen many South Koreans
boycotting Japanese goods and trips there, has already alarmed Washington.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held trilateral talks with his
Japanese and South Korean counterparts this month in Bangkok.
However the brief meeting appeared to have been frosty as the trio —
with Pompeo in the middle — did not speak or shake hands when they posed for
photos afterwards.
– ‘Historical dispute’ –
The termination of the military pact comes after Seoul announced earlier
this month it would remove Tokyo from its list of trusted trading partners,
reciprocating an identical decision by Japan.
That followed Tokyo’s imposition last month of tough restrictions on
exports of chemicals used for semiconductors and displays crucial to South
Korean tech titans including Samsung.
On Thursday Seoul made it clear it believes Tokyo’s export restrictions
are motivated by “historical dispute”.
The South Korean government “had to reconsider the effectiveness of
GSOMIA as Japan has applied historical issues to the security matter”, an
unnamed presidential official told reporters.
The dispute has raised concerns over potential implications for the
countries’ security cooperation in the face of North Korean missile tests,
and the possible impact on global supply chains.
The intelligence pact was signed in November 2016 with Washington’s
backing in response to Pyongyang’s missile launches and nuclear tests, to
better coordinate the gathering of information about the reclusive state.
The accord had been renewed every year and Seoul’s decision to end it
comes as a surprise, as the country was largely expected to maintain security
cooperation with Japan despite the ongoing row.
BSS/AFP/BZC/2008HRS