US says South Korea’s exit from intel pact endangers troops

Bloomberg

The US said that South Korea’s decision to pull out of an intelligence-sharing deal with Japan endangers American troops — an usually blunt criticism of one of Washington’s closest allies.
The Trump administration is disappointed in South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s announcement that his government would stop participating in the 2016 General Security
of Military Information Agreement with Japan, US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. The pact allowed the two neighbours to directly share intelligence about joint security concerns including North Korea and China, without going through the Americans.
“We are deeply disappointed and concerned that the ROK’s government terminated the General Security of Military Information Agreement,” Ortagus said in a Twitter post. “This will make defending #Korea more complicated and increase risk to US forces.”
The criticism is perhaps the clearest sign yet of the Trump administration’s frustration with the months-long feud between South Korea and Japan. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump criticised Moon and his government at a Group of Seven meeting in France, the Sankei newspaper reported.
On Monday, South Korea’s foreign ministry said there had been “close communication” with the US regarding the tensions between Seoul and Tokyo and the reasons for withdrawing from the agreement, without mentioning the risk to US troops.
The acrimonious dispute is rooted in historical grievances over Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula, but has recently escalated to include trade and security cooperation. While South Korea and Japan are protected by tens of thousands of US troops, the Moon administration had argued after withdrawing from the pact that it would strengthen its alliance with the US by increasing defense spending.
The dispute risks complicating a coordinated response to North Korea’s continued missile tests and China’s rising military power projection in the region.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally guided the test firing of a rocket launcher and sent two more short-range ballistic missiles into the sea between South Korea and Japan.
The US Department of Defense had previously expressed “strong concern and disappointment” with South Korea’s decision to exit the security pact.
South Korea’s defense minister, Jeong Kyeong-doo, told the National Assembly’s defense committee that there had been 26 instances of intelligence-sharing with Japan since the agreement was signed.