South Korea, Japan sign military sharing deal

South Korea, Japan sign military sharing deal

Japan and South Korea, once bitter enemies, have agreed to their closest military co-operation since the end of World War II.

Photo Source: Rappler

A military-intelligence sharing deal, which has been in the pipeline for five years, will allow both countries to share information directly without using the US military as an intermediary.

Washington, a close ally of both countries, has long encouraged better relations between the two even though many in South Korea are critical of the pact.

Many of protesters demanding President Park Geun-hye to resign over a influence-pedalling scandal also insisted Park withdraw the military information sharing agreement with Tokyo.

A defence ministry official said South Korea now has deals with 33 countries, including the United States and Russia, on military intelligence sharing.

Japan and South Korea formally signed an agreement Wednesday to share military intelligence on North Korea amid Pyongyang’s ramped-up nuclear and missile programs and a swirling influence-peddling scandal threatening to oust South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

The contentious pact, known as the general security of military information agreement (GSOMIA), comes despite growing momentum that could see Park impeached. The final deal was also reached less than a month after talks resumed following a four-year suspension.

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo and Japan’s ambassador to the South, Yasumasa Nagamine, inked the agreement in Seoul, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.

“Cooperation between Japan and South Korea is becoming more important than ever in the security sphere as North Korea’s nuclear (development) and missiles pose a different level of threat from before,” public broadcaster NHK quoted Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida as telling reporters in Miyagi Prefecture. “Signing of the pact has a very important significance.”

The South’s Defense Ministry called the agreement “necessary,” considering Pyongyang’s nuclear saber-rattling and improvements in its atomic and missile programs. The North has conducted two nuclear tests and more than 20 missile launches this year, including some that fell within Japanese territorial waters.

North Korea has reacted angrily, saying the deal would aggravate regional animosities.

Worries about North Korea's weapons programs have grown after Pyongyang conducted its fifth and most powerful atomic bomb test in September.

South Korean opposition lawmakers accused their government of trying to use the pact as a diversion from a snowballing scandal involving President Park Geun-hye. South Korean officials have denied that.