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| Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha |
Ahead of the official expiration of a bilateral intel-sharing pact between Seoul and Tokyo, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha had planned a visit to the United States for a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. However, her Washington visit was canceled last minute.
The cancellation raised speculations that South Korea has "internally decided" not to renew the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), disappointing Washington. The pact will expire Nov. 23 if South Korea notifies Japan of its decision to end the agreement.
On Thursday, a foreign ministry official said Kang had no option but to cancel her trip because Pompeo failed to arrange time for the meeting next week.
"Pompeo seems too busy to make time for his possible meeting with Kang because of a series of domestic U.S. affairs regarding the House impeachment probe," the official said without elaborating further.
But Kang is set to participate in this year's G20 foreign ministers' meeting to be held in the Japanese city of Nagoya on Nov. 22 and 23 for talks over key bilateral pending issues with her Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi.
Some diplomatic sources here said the cancellation was partly due to the launch of a public impeachment hearing on Capitol Hill, starting from early Thursday (KST). Dozens of incumbent and former administration officials have already testified behind closed doors.
Experts, however, alleged Washington may have "intentionally decided" to avoid a Kang-Pompeo encounter.
As the GSOMIA deadline is approaching, senior U.S. government and military officials have been pressurizing South Korea to reverse its earlier course. A couple of months ago, South Korea decided to scrap the bilateral security cooperation pact after Japan implemented trade retaliatory measures against the country.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper arrived in Seoul, Thursday, and U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told top South Korean defense officials ending the pact would benefit China and North Korea. On his way to Seoul, Esper told reporters accompanying his trip that the GSOMIA agreement "must be maintained."
"The fundamental principle of the intelligence-sharing agreement was a clear message to the region that South Korea and Japan perhaps put the historical differences aside and put the stability and security of the region at the forefront, because together we are much stronger in creating a stable and secure Northeast Asia," U.S.-Korea Combined Forces Command (CFC) Commander Gen. Robert Abrams said in his commemorative speech during a ceremony celebrating the 41st anniversary of the CFC, Nov. 7.
Esper and Milley plan to meet President Moon Jae-in, Friday, at Cheong Wa Dae.
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