Seoul to announce normalization of GSOMIA: Japanese media

• Published date: 09 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

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."

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...