Eurasia Press & News
We begin with a big announcement from South Korea’s top office
South Korean government says it will leave the military intelligence sharing pact with Japan.
This announcement likely to have a big impact on the badly strained relations between Seoul and Tokyo over what started out as a trade row.
We go straight to our Shin Se-min who is standing by at the Blue House with the details, Se-min take it away.
The long-awaited announcement on whether or not to renew the real-time classified information sharing deal with Japan, the General Security of Military Information Agreement, otherwise known as GSOMIA.
South Korea says it is pulling out.
Let me repeat that again, the South Korean government is ditching the real-time information sharing pact with Japan that went into effect three years ago.
Let me take you to that scene moments ago here at the press room.
“The South Korean government has decided to end the General Security of Military Information Agreement and will inform Japan of the decision via a diplomatic channel.”
And the reasoning is that Japan has violated trust with South Korea by accusing Seoul of illegally transferring chemical materials to North Korea, one of the reasons Tokyo gave for imposing its export curbs.
It also said that the government’s concluded that it is not in the national interest to continue GSOMIA.
And guys, this information sharing pact had initially been set up by all three parties, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan in November 2016 to counter nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, part of the regional efforts to monitor the regime.
But now that all seems unlikely with today’s announcement.
There will doubtlessly be more to come with this story. What can we expect now?
This pact is something that had been set up to counter threats looming from the Korean Peninsula in regards to North Korea.
As for the ramifications of today’s decision,… there are many.
One of the possibilities is that it could negatively impact regional efforts to monitor North Korea, which has recently ramped up its military activities.
But get this,.. official at the top office, shortly after the announcement said that the allies Seoul and Washington had been closely coordinating in every step of the decision making process-up until the announcement that the pact is over.
That’s all for me at the hour,… but I’ll be sure to bring you a more comprehensive coverage on that in our later newscast.
