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| South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, and Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha listen to their national anthems during a welcoming ceremony at the government house in Bangkok, Thailand, Sept. 2. AP-Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
BANGKOK, Thailand ― As trade friction with Japan shows no imminent sign of abating, South Korea is aiming to expand its security partnership with Thailand.
In a renewed sign of interest in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Seoul signed a military intelligence-sharing agreement, a General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), with Bangkok.
The agreement came after South Korea ended its GSOMIA with Japan in a deepening trade dispute triggered by Tokyo's decision to remove Seoul from its list of most trusted trading partners in response to the South Korean Supreme Court's ruling last year, which ordered Japanese companies to compensate surviving Koreans who were forced to work for them before and during World War II.
"Based on a very high level of mutual trust, South Korea agreed with Thailand to strengthen security-related capabilities via a GSOMIA. The Seoul-Bangkok military information-sharing agreement will help both countries further upgrade their bilateral alliance in the defense sector and respond to any threats in Southeast Asia," President Moon Jae-in said in a press conference after a summit with Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Moon called Thailand a "true friend" of South Korea, noting its help during the Korean War. "The Korean people will never forget the noble dedication and sacrifice of the Thai Korean War veterans and remain grateful to this day," he said.
Cheong Wa Dae said the government was advancing cooperative initiatives under its New Southern Policy to reduce the country's reliance on the United States, Japan and China. The President, who officially started his visits to Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, will host the largest diplomatic event of his presidency welcoming ASEAN leaders for a commemorative summit in the South Korean port city of Busan in November.
However, Moon didn't elaborate over the specifics of its GSOMIA with Thailand during the conference. A presidential aide told The Korea Times that Seoul aims to take advantage of the pact with Bangkok to export more weapons to the Southeast Asian country rather than filling the gaps left by ending the pact with Japan.
"The intel-sharing pact with Thailand will help South Korea increase its chances of selling more advanced and light weapons such as tanks and aircraft in Thailand and other countries in the ASEAN bloc," the aide said.
"South Korea will also strongly support the Thailand 4.0 strategy as we have agreed to upgrade each other's competitiveness in emerging and highly-lucrative businesses such as bio, next-generation vehicles, and robots," Moon said. "Thailand 4.0" is Thailand's 20-year strategy to promote and support innovation, creativity, higher technologies, and research and development.
South Korea signed six memoranda of understandings (MOUs) with Thailand on smart cities, industry 4.0, education, water infrastructure development, railways and transport as well as the bilateral GSOMIA. Thailand and South Korea are also scheduled to organize a Korea-Thailand Committee on Economic Cooperation by the end of the year, Cheong Wa Dae said.
Moon also spoke of the importance of ASEAN in the Korean Peninsula's peace process, adding the dialogue momentum between United States and North Korea aimed at scrapping the latter's nuclear program "remains alive."
"Moon's approach is people-focused, emphasizing shared values for peace, and promoting common interests in prosperity. Such positive messages are welcome when many governments are anxious about tensions between Washington and Beijing. Seoul can play a middle power role, helping network countries in Asia within an updated rules-based order," Leif-Eric Easley, an associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul said via e-mail.
"Regional security contributions can also help Seoul in its alliance cost sharing negotiations with the United States. South Korea needs to network with different national efforts rather than play to regional rivalries. The New Southern Policy should complement and coordinate with, rather than balance against, Japan or China," Easley added.
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