By Yi Whan-woo
South Korean and Japanese officials recently participated in a missile defense exercise led by the United States and practiced sharing intelligence on their common enemy — North Korea, the Seoul military source said Sunday.
This prompted speculation that Seoul and Tokyo are preparing to resume talks on a bilateral military intelligence pact, which has been suspended for years due to conflicts over history-related issues.
Military officials here said the two Asian neighbors operated a joint communication channel in the Nimble Titan 16 exercise aimed at bolstering cooperation among about 20 U.S. allies to deter North Korea’s submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) attacks.
They said the U.S. military officials “strongly called on” Seoul and Tokyo to team up in carrying out three major missions — information sharing, offense operations and anticipatory self-defense — during the five-day war game starting Feb. 1.
The revelation came after the leaders of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan met Thursday and discussed issues on stalled negotiations the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C.
Seoul and Tokyo initially planned to sign the GSOMIA, a pact aimed at sharing sensitive military information about North Korea, in 2012.
But the plan was scrapped following protests from politicians and civic activists who have insisted on first resolving unsettled historical disputes involving the Japanese military.
South Korea still maintains view that “a relevant circumstance should be created” for Seoul and Tokyo to resume negotiations on the signing of GSOMIA, according to Kim Kyou-hyun, the senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs and national security.
The Ministry of Defense also turned down the revelations on the joint communication channel between South Korean and Japan during Nimble Titan 16. It added the drill was not related to GSOMIA at all.
Analysts, however, said North Korea’s growing military threats are likely to lead to political and diplomatic circumstances where Seoul and Tokyo may resume their talks over signing of the GSOMIA.
They said the bilateral military pact can supplement the trilateral security alliance among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan in addition to Seoul’s security treaty with Washington.
“Pyongyang’s increased military capabilities are raising awareness toward enhanced measures for national security,” said Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defense and Security Forum (KDSF).
He cited North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January and a subsequent long-range rocket using ballistic missile technology a month later.
The Kim Jong-un regime is also believed to be accelerating in its development of miniaturized nuclear warheads, sold-fuel rockets and SLBMs.
“Under such circumstances, it is seen the Seoul-Washington-Tokyo alliance is also seen as not sufficient in a way that we must get information from Japan via the U.S. It will delay time in receiving time-sensitive information while allowing Washington to take control over the information that Japan has.
“The security climate has changed compared to 2012 and I’m certain people will understand it,” he added.
Kim Dae-young, also a KDSF researcher, said voiced a similar view, adding “It’s critical to show that the government is capable of making progress on historical and military issues involving the Japanese military separately.”
He pointed out that Seoul and Tokyo reached an agreement to settle the Japanese military’s sexual enslavement of Korean women before and during World War II, which was the biggest stumbling block in the relationship between the two ties.
“I understand controversy still lingers over the issues, but the government should try to show it can do better.”
A total of 20 countries, including the Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, participated in Nimble Titan 16 organized by the U.S. Strategic Command in the U.S. mainland.
The South Korean participants included officials from the Ministry of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy, Air Force and the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA).
“There has been a consensus among participants that sharing information by regions and alliances is crucial and that such a joint communication channel should be set up prior to emergency,” a source said on condition of anonymity.