hankyoreh

Kim You-geun, deputy director of the Blue House National Security Office, holds a press briefing regarding GSOMIA on Nov. 22. (Blue House photo pool)

During the closed-door negotiations between the South Korean and Japanese governments that led to Seoul’s conditional delay of the termination of the two countries’ General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), Japan reportedly explained that the procedures necessary to restore South Korea to its white list of trusted trading partners would take about a month. Seoul is strongly objecting to the Japanese government’s attempt to manipulate the media by claiming it made no concessions to South Korea after making such a specific offer.

According to sources in the government who spoke with the Hankyoreh on Nov. 25, Japan proposed holding a meeting on the director-general level to discuss rescinding its export controls and restoring South Korea to the white list. The sources said that Japan made this proposal about a week before GSOMIA was supposed to end on Nov. 23. Multiple officials related that the Japanese said it would take a month or so to revoke the export controls and reverse the white list removal and that it would also be necessary to confirm that there are no issues with South Korea’s import and export management protocols.

“The Japanese explained that, since it took about a month to remove us from the white list, it would take about that much time to reinstate us,” a government official said.

“While the export controls on the three parts and materials [used to manufacture] semiconductors can be rescinded immediately, a legislation notification period and other steps are necessary before [we can be put back on] the white list,” said another government official.

The South Korean government said that Tokyo’s concrete offer helped persuade it to delay the GSOMIA termination on the condition that negotiations resume.

Seoul plans to observe the deliberations for one or two months; if there’s still no solution in sight to the export control issue at that point, it will review the option of terminating GSOMIA, according to principle.

“Japan is in a bit of a pickle too because US pressure forced it to reverse its original stance and join the negotiations. That could make it lukewarm about undoing the export controls. We should wait for a month or two after the negotiations begin and then, if we decide that Japan is still dragging its feet, we should respond by terminating GSOMIA as originally planned,” said Kim Jun-hyeong, director of the Korean National Diplomatic Academy.

“Some critics are displeased that South Korea gave cash and only got an IOU in return, but the US is standing surety for that IOU. The government’s position is that, if Japan tries to stall without reversing the export controls, it will pull the plug on GSOMIA.”

In a related story, Japanese diplomats have apparently apologized to the South Korean government after Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) arbitrarily added several passages to the two countries’ written agreement and released that to the public instead of the original document.

“On the evening of Nov. 22, a diplomat from the Japanese embassy to Seoul was summoned to South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The diplomat gave First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Se-young a message signed by Japan’s vice minister of foreign affairs apologizing for METI’s misleading briefing,” said a South Korean government official, adding that, “Despite using the word ‘sorry,’ Japan is lying, claiming that it didn’t make an apology.”

During a meeting between South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu on Nov. 23, the Japanese director-general in charge reportedly relayed the same message to their South Korean counterpart.

After METI claimed on Nov. 22 that Japan had joined the deliberations after South Korea offered to withdraw a petition it had lodged with the World Trade Organization (WTO), Blue House National Security Office Director Chung Eui-yong criticized Japan for “issuing a statement that was deliberately distorted and exaggerated” and said he’d received an apology from Japan. Subsequently, the Japanese press reported that Japanese government officials had denied making an apology, leading the Blue House to issue yet another rebuttal.

By Park Min-hee, Seong Yeon-cheol, and Lee Wan, staff reporters

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