hankyoreh

President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at a meeting on plans for a “digital platform government” held at the Blue House in Seoul on April 14. (courtesy of the presidential office)

South Korea’s presidential office is scrambling to ensure that President Yoon Suk-yeol’s state visit to the US on April 26 will produce outcomes that strengthen trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan, such as intelligence sharing and strengthening South Korea-US cooperation.

While the presidential office has made clear that the alleged wiretapping of South Korea National Security Service senior officials by the American CIA will not be on the summit’s agenda, the possibility of adding Japan to the South Korea-US intelligence alliance is reportedly being discussed, despite Yoon’s office facing sharp rebuke for “capitulating diplomacy” with Japan.

With only a little more than a week until the summit, there are concerns that, far from widening the scope of talks, negotiations by working-level officials in the security, economic, and socio-cultural areas will fail to properly convey Seoul’s demands aimed at furthering the national interest.

When Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, returned from a five-day trip to the US on Saturday, he suggested that expanding and strengthening the trilateral intelligence sharing system between South Korea, the US, and Japan, or formulating an entirely new system, could be discussed at Yoon’s summit with US President Joe Biden.

Meeting with reporters at the airport, Kim stated, “There will be discussions on how to further solidify the South Korea-US intelligence alliance and what additional partners we should invite.” When asked about the possibility of including Japan in the alliance, Kim said, “There is a high possibility, but I think it will be reviewed in incremental stages and on a case-by-case basis.”

In response to this, a senior official from the presidential office told the Hankyoreh on Sunday that “nothing has been planned out yet,” but that “the summit could lead to some actions being taken.”

As a document on comprehensive cybersecurity cooperation is scheduled to be adopted at the summit, these statements can be interpreted as hinting at the possibility of launching various consultative bodies, including those with Japan.

South Korea, the US and Japan operate a trilateral sharing system through the US Department of Defense called the Trilateral Information Sharing Arrangement (TISA), and the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) has been normalized between South Korea and Japan.

Last November, the leaders of South Korea, the US and Japan met in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where they adopted a joint statement detailing that the three countries will “share DPRK missile warning data in real time.” Since then, the three countries have been discussing ways to strengthen their military information-sharing system by revising the trilateral information-sharing agreement.

When asked by reporters whether the US wiretapping allegations will be on the agenda at the summit, Kim replied that the Korean side “has no plans of doing that just yet.” He added that every time he met with officials from the US, they expressed regret.

“South Korea and the US are determined to use this as an opportunity to make amends, build trust, and make the upcoming summit more substantial and fruitful,” he added.

This is being taken as an admission that the wiretapping allegations are indeed true, but since the US has said that it is sorry, Yoon’s office plans to gloss over the whole issue.

But some have criticized the emphasis on intelligence cooperation with the US and trilateral cooperation with Japan in the face of the unresolved wiretapping allegations.

“Please clarify how you intend to use the wiretapping scandal as an opportunity to restore bilateral relations,” demanded Kang Sun-woo, a spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, at a briefing on Sunday.

“If the wiretapping scandal fails to make it on the agenda of the summit, this only goes to show that the current president cannot bear to protest a major incident in which the sovereignty of our country was violated,” she went on. “It is bewildering that he is already forcing the citizens of South Korea to keep a low profile, saying, ‘Let’s not rock the boat of trust and faith between the two countries.’”

Kim Joon-hyung, a former chancellor of the National Diplomatic Academy, told the Hankyoreh, “Sharing information should be based on trust, so it doesn\'t make sense to cooperate without properly resolving the wiretapping allegations.”

“It’s impossible to call ourselves a sovereign country when we’re so preoccupied with cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan, that we cannot even get an apology that we rightfully deserve,” he added.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter; Shin Hyeong-cheol, staff reporter

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