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South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha answers reporters’ questions during a briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February. (Yonhap News)

South Korea’s information-sharing agreement with Japan, which was a key issue in the two countries’ dispute last year, is likely to be maintained for the time being.

On Aug. 23, just one day before the deadline for withdrawing from the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Blue House hadn’t made any comments about whether or not GSOMIA would be maintained. That’s quite a contrast with last year, when South Korea said it would only extend the agreement if the Japanese government canceled its move in July to tighten export controls on three key semiconductor materials, including hydrogen fluoride, kicking off a flurry of diplomacy with the US and Japan.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in also declared his intention to resolve the dispute with Japan through dialogue in his celebratory address for the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s colonial occupation on Aug. 15. “The government is prepared to sit down with the Japanese government at any time,” Moon said.

The Asahi Shimbun and other Japanese newspapers noted over the weekend that there were no current indications that South Korea would notify Japan of its intention to withdraw from the annually renewed agreement by the deadline of Aug. 24, and that the agreement was expected to be automatically renewed. GSOMIA, which took effect on Nov. 23, 2016, is automatically extended for another year if neither side provides the other with written notification of their intention to withdraw within 90 days of the termination date.

But the official position of the South Korean government is that the agreement does not automatically extend for another year on Aug. 24 and that it can scrap the agreement whenever it wishes. “The government rescinded its termination notification on Nov. 22, 2019, with the understanding that GSOMIA can be rendered invalid at any time. Once again, [the South Korean government] can invalidate it at any time without setting any particular deadline,“ said Lee Jae-ung, deputy spokesperson for MOFA, on Aug. 20.

By Gil Yun-hyung, staff writer

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