Seoul to announce normalization of GSOMIA: Japanese media

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Tue, September 26, 2023 | 09:00

Foreign Affairs

Seoul to announce normalization of GSOMIA: Japanese media

Posted : 2023-03-09 12:10

Updated : 2023-03-09 16:08

Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 13, 2022. Korea Times file

By Kang Seung-woo

A Japanese media outlet reported, Thursday, that the South Korean government has decided to put the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) back on track amid signs of improving ties between the neighboring countries.

The GSOMIA is a bilateral security agreement between South Korea and Japan to share sensitive military and intelligence information. The former Moon Jae-in administration nearly let the pact expire in 2019 in response to Tokyo's tightened controls on exports to Seoul.

However, South Korea conditionally suspended the decision to terminate the agreement, following a resolution passed in the U.S. Senate calling on Seoul to renew it, leaving the pact in a somewhat unstable state, as the South Korean government had said that it could scrap the GSOMIA at any time.

Citing a South Korean government official, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, "As North Korea advances its nuclear and missile development, Japan and South Korea will work to strengthen cooperation in the field of security."

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It also said the Yoon Suk Yeol administration plans to withdraw the documents that notified Japan of the end of the GSOMIA in 2019 and inform the country that it will withdraw relevant measures it took at the time.

The report came days after the Yoon administration developed a resolution on compensating victims of Japan's wartime forced labor by using a public foundation funded by Korean companies without direct payment from Japan, raising speculation that the plan could clear the way for improving frayed ties.

The forced labor issue has caused Korea-Japan relations to sink to the lowest level since the postwar period because of a 2018 South Korean Supreme Court order for Japanese companies ― Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel ― to compensate Korean victims who were forced to work for Imperial Japan during its 1910-45 colonial occupation of Korea.

Since taking office in May 2022, President Yoon has been making efforts to normalize the nation's relationship with Japan, based on the importance of trilateral security cooperation with the U.S. against North Korea's evolving threats. Pyongyang ended last year with a record 38 ballistic missile launches in total.

In response to the report, the South Korean defense ministry said it plans to review it in consultation with relevant government organizations in accordance with the progress in Korea-Japan relations.

According to the South Korean presidential office, Thursday, Yoon will travel to Tokyo to meeting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida March 16 and 17, the news report said, "The two leaders are expected to confirm the importance of the GSOMIA at next week's summit."

It added that the timing of the final announcement of normalization will be decided based on the progress of the Japanese government's lifting of its export control on three key industrial materials critical for South Korea's chip and display industries in apparent retaliation over the top court's rulings.

ksw@koreatimes.co.kr