Nov 24, 2019 (Japan Today) - South Korea's decision to salvage a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan provides relief to those concerned over a breakdown in security cooperation between the neighbors in the face of missile threats from North Korea.
But the last-minute decision to suspend the termination of the General Security of Information Agreement, or GSOMIA, far from guarantees they can settle deep-seated disagreements over wartime issues.
"I believe that there are ways to do it, but I doubt that either the South Korean or Japanese government under current leadership will be capable of agreeing" on any approach, said Scott Snyder, senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based think tank.
South Korean President Moon Jae In had been on the fence on whether to go through with its August decision to end the pact, which allows the exchange of sensitive information on the fly rather than going through mutual ally the United States.
The move, taken in response to the decision by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration to tighten controls on exports of key manufacturing materials and the removal of South Korea from a list of trusted trade partners, was backed by 59 percent of South Koreans in a Gallup Korea poll, which showed only 21 percent against.
Reversing the decision without any concessions from Japan would have dealt a political blow to Moon, already reeling from the resignation of his scandal-hit justice minister, ahead of a general election next spring.
But South Korea was also under intense pressure from the United States to maintain GSOMIA. Senior officials including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, had called for more efforts to prevent an end to the pact during recent trips to Seoul.
