Japan and South Korea rescue intelligence pact after US push

Bloomberg

Japan and South Korea struck a last-minute deal to rescue their expiring intelligence-sharing pact, after a push from the Trump administration averted a blow to US efforts to strengthen its Asian alliance network.
South Korea will suspend its plans to pull out of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) and temporarily withdraw a complaint it made against Japan at the World Trade Organization (WTO), Kim You-geun, South Korea’s national security first vice adviser, said in a news briefing, about six hours before the pact was due to expire.
The decision — which had been a key focus of US Defense Secretary Mark Esper during a trip to Asia over the past week — was quickly applauded by the Pentagon.
“The Secretary thanks both the governments of ROK and Japan for working to find a path forward and keep working together as allies,” according to a Defense Department statement. “The agreement is important to sharing vital intelligence, particularly in a timely manner with regard to any type of North Korean actions, and it sends a strong message that we are united against regional and shared threats.”
The pact was set to formally cease to exist at 12 am on Saturday, three months after South Korea moved to end the deal amid a history-laden dispute with Japan. The three-year-old pact was seen as important
because it demonstrated the neighbours’ ability to cooperate independently from Washington to counter shared threats including China and North Korea.
Japan and South Korea agreed to start talks on export controls put in place by Tokyo, Yoichi Iida, a trade control director with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said at a separate briefing in Tokyo. South Korea has demanded the removal of the curbs, which it saw as a political tool that undermined trust.
Both sides tried to show they were able to get their point of view over to their neighbour.
“I believe South Korea made a decision from a strategic viewpoint,” Japanese PM Shinzo Abe told reporters, while Kim said the Japanese government has expressed understanding of Seoul’s moves.
The decision by Japan and South Korea marked a rare reversal in their tensions that have plunged to new depths in recent years and spilled over to hurt their trade, tourism and relations with their main security ally, the US.
“Establishing a dialogue channel is a step in the right direction,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group. “But it has been a mistake for Seoul to view GSOMIA as a bilateral issue with Japan when it’s a mechanism that helps protect South Korea from the shared challenges of North Korean and regional security threats, with the help of the US and Japan.”
The agreement would have been the most significant casualty yet of a dispute between Abe and South Korean president Moon Jae-in that rapidly escalated over the past year as the US sat largely on the sidelines.

Tokyo, Seoul to co-ordinate summit in China Next Month
Bloomberg

Japan and South Korea agreed on Saturday to work towards a summit between prime minister Shinzo Abe and president Moon Jae-in next month — a breakthrough that came a day after the last-minute rescue of a military pact between the two nations.
Foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi agreed to co-ordinate the summit on the sidelines of a trilateral meeting with China, a Japanese official told reporters. Seoul earlier reversed a decision to sever its General Security of Military Information Agreement with its neighbour.
The Japanese official asked not to be identified in discussing the meeting in the city of Nagoya, where a Group of 20 gathering of foreign ministers was taking place.