Tag: military intelligence

I am surprised USFK did not already have a unit dedicated to doing human intelligence analysis already:

The U.S. troops in South Korea are pushing to set up a unit that will be charged with gathering and analyzing human intelligence on North Korea, local authorities said Sunday.

Human Intelligence, known as HUMINT, is intelligence gathered by means of interpersonal contact.

The move comes as the North’s development of communications security technology is increasingly making signals surveillance of the country’s internal communications more difficult.

According to the authorities, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) plans to create a specialized unit around October under the 501st Military Intelligence Brigade of the Eighth U.S. Army. The new unit will be called the 524th Military Intelligence Battalion, they said.

In the brigade, the 532nd Military Intelligence Battalion is in charge of human intelligence affairs, but its main duty is analyzing intelligence, not directly gathering it.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

President Park is so unpopular right now she really has nothing to lose politically any more by signing the long anticipated intelligence sharing agreement with Japan:

South Korea and Japan plan to sign a military intelligence-sharing pact this week to better counter mounting threats from North Korea, the defense ministry said Monday.

The two countries signed a provisional General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) last week, less than a month after they resumed discussions on Oct. 27.

“We are planning to formally sign the GSOMIA on Wednesday upon approval by President Park Geun-hye after it is passed by the Cabinet on Tuesday,” a ministry official said.

Defense Minister Han Min-koo and Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Yasumasa Nagamine are expected to sign it at the defense ministry in Seoul, he said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This opposition by the Korean left to the ROK-Japan military intelligence sharing pact is not surprising.  Japanese Prime Minister Abe could apologize for everything from the Hideyoshi invasion of Korea to World War II and then commit seppuku on top of Mt. Namsan and the Korean left would still oppose this pact simply because the Korean right wants it:

Opposition parties Tuesday set in motion a campaign to oust Defense Minister Han Min-koo over a controversial military pact with Japan that was tentatively signed by the two sides late Monday.

Making good on their pledge, the three groups — the Democratic Party of Korea, People’s Party and Justice Party — decided to submit a parliamentary motion to recommend the minister’s dismissal on Nov. 30 and put it to vote at a plenary session slated for Dec. 2.

Its passage is likely, since the opposition bloc controls more than a majority of seats in Parliament.

A provisional deal was reached in Tokyo on Monday evening on the General Security of Military Information Agreement, which aims to enhance cooperation in coping with North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats. It does not require parliamentary ratification.

A previous effort to sign the deal was derailed in 2012 in the face of strong public disapproval in Seoul.

The opposition parties have threatened to unseat the defense minister if he pushes through the deal this time, without public consensus.

The tentative signing came less than two weeks after talks reopened between the two countries on military intelligence sharing. The first working-level meeting was held on Nov. 1. Seoul and Tokyo had made official the negotiation’s resumption on Oct. 27.   [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

With the completion of the comfort women agreement it would seem that moving forward at some point on the military intelligence sharing agreement would be the next area of cooperation that the ROK and Japan should focus on.  This is especially important considering the increasing security threats from North Korea:

South Korea said Monday that gaining the public’s support is a prerequisite for Seoul to review whether to seek a pact on sharing military intelligence with Japan.

Japan’s Kyodo News reported Sunday that South Korea and Japan seem to hold the view that conditions are ripe for deepening military cooperation, saying that Defense Minister Han Min-koo said Seoul is mulling reviewing whether to clinch a Seoul-Tokyo pact on sharing military intelligence.

In 2012, the two nations initialed such a pact to spur the exchange of information on North Korea. But Seoul suspended its signing due to strong opposition from civic groups, which claimed the deal was inked hastily and behind the scenes.

Seoul’s defense ministry dismissed the report, adding that Han’s remarks meant that various factors should be first taken into consideration.

“Support from the National Assembly and the general public should be prerequisites for the accord to be clinched,” the Defense Ministry said. [Korea Times]