Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo speaks during a trilateral meeting among South Korea, the United States and Japan, Sunday, on the sidelines of the 6th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus, held at the Avani Plus Riverside Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Yonhap |
By Jung Da-min
BANGKOK ― Washington is putting pressure on Japan to present the "right conditions" for the renewal of an intelligence-sharing pact with South Korea, according to South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo.
But it's highly unlikely Japan will withdraw its trade restrictions imposed on South Korean companies, as Tokyo is insisting that Seoul Korea should "do something" about the South Korean Supreme Court's rulings which ordered Japanese companies to compensate surviving South Koreans forced to work for them during wartime.
The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) is set to expire Nov. 22.
Jeong told reporters accompanying him to Bangkok, Sunday, the pact between the U.S.' two main regional allies is a symbol of the South Korea-U.S alliance and has strategic value in that sense. He was in Thailand's capital to attend the 6th ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-PLUS (ADMM-PLUS).
"As Washington thinks maintaining the GSOMIA is important for trilateral security cooperation, the United States is pressuring not just Seoul but Japan as well to renew the pact," the minister told the reporters. The annual pact was first signed in November 2016.
But he admitted his meeting with Japanese counterpart Taro Kono didn't produce any visible outcomes as the two just confirmed each country's position on the matter.
"I haven't heard any clear message over the matter nor have I delivered any such message," Jeong said. "It could be seen that the two sides run on parallel lines."
During a joint press conference, U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper didn't elaborate regarding questions over Washington's moves to intervene in the Seoul-Tokyo friction, but he stressed North Korea and China would benefit the most if the GSOMIA was discontinued. "I think we need to move forward together as partners and allies and in a trilateral way, and make sure that we address the GSOMIA to restore it, because the only people that benefit from friction between Seoul and Tokyo are Pyongyang and Beijing," he said.
Military experts say the U.S. is likely to express its "regrets" in some manner, if the GSOMIA is not renewed by the end of this week.
 |
| U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper holds hand with Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, left, and Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono prior to a trilateral meeting Sunday, on the sidelines of the 6th ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-PLUS, held at the Avani Plus Riverside Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Yonhap |
President Moon Jae-in has said the GSOMIA issue is a matter of "mutual trust, principle and sovereignty," and told his senior aides the pact will not be renewed, according to Cheong Wa Dae officials.
After President Moon Jae-in took power in May 2017, South Korea's Supreme Court made decisions in the following year that ordered Japanese firms to compensate surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor during 1910-45 Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula. The decisions were followed by Japan's move in early August to remove South Korea from its list of countries receiving special trade treatments citing "security reasons," which later spread into the GSOMIA conflict between the two sides.
