North Korea’s record-breaking number of missile launches this year continues to push Seoul and Tokyo closer after years of soured ties over wartime history issues, with South Korea’s top diplomat emphasizing the need for more regular use of a key intelligence-sharing pact between the two neighbors.
Speaking at a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken in Washington on Monday, new South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin signaled that Seoul hopes to breathe new life into its intelligence deal with Japan, the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA). The pact, which was nearly terminated in 2019 amid a bilateral row over export controls and wartime history issues, was left to wither under the administration of previous South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
“We want GSOMIA to be normalized as soon as possible together with the improvement of the Korea-Japan relationship,” Park said. “In order to deal with the threat from North Korea, we need to have policy coordination and a sharing of information between Korea and Japan and with the United States.”