South Korea ignores protests as it signs intelligence deal with Japan
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JAPAN and South Korea signed an agreement yesterday to share defense intelligence about North Korea, despite protests from opposition parties and activists in Seoul and strong criticism from China.
South Korea’s defense ministry said the accord was necessary in the face of growing military threats from Pyongyang, which has conducted two nuclear tests and more than 20 missile launches this year.
“It is ready to conduct additional nuclear tests and missile launches at any time,” the ministry said in a statement. “Since we can now utilize Japan’s intelligence capability to effectively deal with North Korea’s escalating nuclear and missile threats, it will enhance our security interests.”
Japan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the military agreement would allow the two governments to “share information even more smoothly and swiftly.”
China, already angry at South Korea’s planned deployment of an advanced US missile defense system, sharply criticized Seoul and Tokyo for a “cold war mentality.”
The agreement “will aggravate the situation in the Korean Peninsula and bring new unsecure and unstable factors to northeast Asia,” said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a regular briefing in Beijing.
“While conducting military cooperation, relevant countries should respect the security concerns of regional countries and do more things for peace and development, not the opposite.”
China says that Seoul’s earlier decision to deploy the THAAD missile defense system will increase the risk of military conflict in the region.
Seoul and Tokyo currently use Washington, their mutual ally, as an intermediary when sharing military intelligence on Pyongyang, under a deal that was signed in 2014.
The new intelligence-sharing agreement is also controversial in South Korea, where memories of Japan’s harsh 1910-45 colonial rule still mar relations with Tokyo.
South Korea and Japan were on the verge of signing an intelligence-sharing deal in June 2012, but Seoul backtracked at the last minute in response to a public outcry at the agreement.
Noting Tokyo’s surveillance assets and geographic location, South Korea’s defense ministry said the deal would be a “big help” in better analyzing Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs and collecting more intelligence about its submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
North Korea has slammed the military pact, labeling it as “a dangerous act” that would raise already-high tensions on the Korean Peninsula and open a door to Japan’s re-invasion.
The contentious issue comes as South Korean President Park Geun-hye faces growing calls for her resignation for her involvement in a widening corruption and influence-peddling scandal that has sparked huge street demonstrations.
The deal has been fiercely opposed by South Korean opposition parties and activists, who point to Seoul’s failure to seek public support and to historical sensitivities.
South Korea’s main opposition party has called the deal “unpatriotic and humiliating” and threatened to impeach Defense Minister Han Min-koo if the agreement is pushed through.
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