South Korea, Japan seek summit after intel pact thaw

Japan and South Korean foreign ministers agreed Saturday to arrange a summit between their leaders next month, seeking to build on a lowering of tensions after Seoul stuck to a key military pact.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Moon Jae-in could meet in China next month, their ministers agreed on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Nagoya, Japan.

The summit would take place on the occasion of the Japan-China-South Korea trilateral scheduled for next month, said a Japanese diplomat who declined to give his name.

Ties between the two countries, both key US allies in the region, have hit rock bottom in recent months over trade and Japan's historic war-time atrocities.

This led to Seoul threatening to withdraw from a key military intelligence-sharing pact, alarming the United States who said that would benefit only North Korea and China in the region.

But late Friday, with only six hours until the pact was due to expire, South Korea reversed course and agreed to extend it "conditionally", warning however it could be "terminated" at any moment.

The accord, known as GSOMIA, enabled the two US allies to share military secrets, particularly over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile capacity.

Washington welcomed Seoul's decision but urged the pair to "continue sincere discussions to ensure a lasting solution to historic issues".

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave a muted response to the decision on Friday, stressing that co-ordination between Tokyo, Seoul and Washington was "very important" while his defence minister urged South Korea to extend the pact "in a firm manner".

The relationship between Japan and South Korea is overshadowed by the 35 years of brutal colonisation by the Japanese -- including the use of sex slaves and forced labour -- that is still bitterly resented today.

Ties began a downward spiral after a series of South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate wartime forced labour victims.

This infuriated Tokyo, with Japan insisting the matter was settled in a 1965 treaty normalising diplomatic relations between the two countries, which included significant reparations.

- 'Long-term drift' -

The historic dispute morphed into a trade spat between the two market economies, as Japan removed South Korea from a so-called "white list" of countries that enjoyed streamlined export control procedures.

South Korea hit back with similar trade restrictions and a decision to scrap the intelligence-sharing pact, surprising analysts who thought defence ties would be immune from the diplomatic row.

While insisting the issues of trade and GSOMIA were completely separate, Japan's trade ministry announced that working-level talks would resume between the pair to thrash out their trade differences.

"Thus far Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has signalled no shift in his government's position on either the white list or the dispute over compensation for colonial-era forced labour that triggered this year's crisis in bilateral relations," noted Tobias Harris, an analyst at Teneo consultants.

"Without assurances that Seoul will adhere to Japan's understanding of the treaty, it may be difficult to prevent the long-term drift in the relationship," added Harris.

The G20 gathering focused on global trade issues -- including the reform of the World Trade Organisations -- as well as the environment and African development.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said ministers had agreed on the "urgent" need to reform the WTO amid a collapse in the multilateral trading system and the US-China trade war.

Five things to know about the Japan-South Korea intel-sharing pact
Tokyo (AFP) Nov 22, 2019 - South Korea's decision Friday to "conditionally" extend a key intelligence-sharing pact with Japan will come as a huge relief to the United States, which was deeply troubled by the diplomatic spat between its two main allies in the region.

Here are five things to know about the decision:

- What happened? -

With just hours to go until it was due to run out, South Korea announced it would suspend the expiry of a pact with Japan called the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA).

Under the pact, originally signed in 2016, the two directly share military secrets, particularly over North Korea's nuclear and missile capacity.

In August, following a sharp deterioration in ties, Seoul said it was no longer in its national interest to continue sharing confidential information with its neighbour.

At the time Tokyo "strongly" protested the move and urged South Korea to reconsider.

- Why is it important? -

Sharing intelligence between the two US allies is especially vital at a time when unpredictable and nuclear-armed North Korea appears to be sabre rattling amid a deadlock in talks with Washington.

Tokyo has said that during missile launches there is a "thorough and careful exchange of information between both sides" that would otherwise be lost.

Analysts say that without the agreement, both militaries may find it more difficult to track missile launches from the regime in Pyongyang.

Scrapping the pact would have been "a huge setback for one of the pillars of East Asia's security that Japan, South Korea and the United States have established", said Kenichiro Sasae, former vice-minister for foreign affairs, negotiator, and ambassador to the US.

Other experts have played down the move, however, noting the United States previously coordinated the flow of sensitive information between the pair anyway, and this would simply have resumed.

- What is the regional and global impact? -

The US had pleaded with Japan and South Korea not to allow a deterioration in ties to affect the military-sharing pact, with officials as senior as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging the pair to bury the hatchet.

US officials admit privately that the spat between the two complicated diplomacy in the region -- including with North Korea over its nuclear programme.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on a recent trip to Asia that the only beneficiaries from the pact being scrapped would be North Korea and China, and urged the two allies to "sit down and work through their differences".

- How did it come to this? -

Bitter memories of Japan's brutal colonialisation of Korea between 1910 and 1945 have long cast a dark cloud over bilateral relations.

Japan says a 1965 treaty that normalised relations with a significant financial contribution effectively settled all reparation claims.

But in past months a string of South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate forced labour victims infuriated Japan.

Bilateral ties went further into tailspin in July after Tokyo said Seoul was not properly handling sensitive imports, and took the country off a list of nations that enjoyed streamlined export control procedures.

This enraged South Korea, which hit back with similar moves targeting Japan, before cancelling the intelligence-sharing pact.

- What happens next? -

Bilateral ties are unlikely to come out of the deep freeze in the near future, said Sasae, but should still be seen as positive over the longer term.

"The current situation is extremely deplorable and extremely regrettable... but the Japan-South Korea relationship has been expanding when seen in a historical perspective," he said.

Anti-Japan sentiment continues to grow in South Korea, however, with protests and boycotts of Japanese goods and a dramatic drop in Korean tourists visiting Japan.

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