President Park Declines To Sign Military Intelligence Sharing Pact with Japan

I wonder how much this has to do with election year politics in anticipation of next year’s ROK Presidential campaign season?:

South Korea shied away from forging a military intelligence sharing pact with Japan during talks between the leaders of the two countries in Laos, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

The long protracted issue of signing the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) was discussed during the summit meeting between President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Vientiane, on Wednesday, Cho Jung-hyuck, spokesman of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs, said during a regular briefing.

“(But) Securing the sufficient understanding and cooperation from the National Assembly and the public is necessary,” Cho quoted the South Korean side as having told the Japanese side.

Park and Abe are in the Southeast Asian country to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting and the East Asia Summit.

The remarks suggest Park may have rejected Abe’s offer for the agreement’s signing.

South Korea and Japan came close to forging the GSOMIA in 2012, but the final signing was aborted amid public protests in South Korea. Protestors then accused the South Korean government of attempting to sign the militarily sensitive deal with the former colonial ruler in a clandestine manner.  [Yonhap]

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