South Korea's national security chief on Sunday accused Japan of deliberately distorting details of their negotiations on maintaining a bilateral intelligence-sharing agreement.
At a news conference in Busan, Chung Eui-yong, director of the Blue House National Security Office, expressed "deep regret" over the alleged distortion, saying Seoul lodged a protest through diplomatic channels and had received an apology.
He indicated that Seoul did not intend to go back on its last-minute decision Friday to conditionally suspend the expiry of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) which was due to lapse later that day.