Here is the latest on the pending termination of the GSOMIA:

The United States appears to be heaping pressure on South Korea to retract its decision to end a military intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo amid North Korea’s continued saber-rattling and specter of tighter security cooperation between China and Russia.

U.S. diplomats have openly voiced concerns over the looming termination of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), seen as a symbolic platform for Washington to expand its trilateral defense collaboration with the Asian allies.

In August, Seoul announced its decision to end GSOMIA in response to Tokyo’s new export curbs seen as political retaliation for last year’s Korean Supreme Court rulings against Japanese firms over wartime forced labor. It will expire on Nov. 23 unless Seoul reverses the decision.

In a recent interview with Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Marc Knapper, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Korea and Japan, urged Seoul and Tokyo to maintain GSOMIA despite their chilled ties.

“Nobody is happy with the situation. Actually not nobody — there are people happy with the situation, but they happen to be in Beijing, Moscow and Pyongyang,” Knapper said in the interview.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I guess we will see if this leads to any resolution to the trade dispute between the two countries:

President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday he has had a “meaningful” meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that could herald the start of dialogue for mending soured ties between Seoul and Tokyo.

Moon held an 11-minute conversation with Abe on Monday ahead of an ASEAN Plus Three summit in Bangkok, the first one-on-one talks in more than a year amid frayed ties.

“I’ve held a meaningful meeting with Abe that could be a start point for dialogue,” Moon said on his social media, wrapping up his three-day trip to Thailand for ASEAN-related summits.

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae characterized it as a face-to-face conversation, neither a formal summit nor a “pull aside.” But Moon and Abe agreed to resolve pending issues via dialogue during a meeting held in a “very friendly and serious” mood, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is good news because clearly the Chinese are trying to create strategic bases in the South Pacific where they could target Australia and New Zealand from. If a contingency was to happen in the South China Sea the fact that these two U.S. allies could be quickly targeted could influence future defense decisions:

Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday lauded a legal decision in the Solomon Islands that prevents a Chinese company from leasing an entire island in the South Pacific nation.

“I want to applaud the decision of the Solomon Islands attorney general to invalidate the Chinese effort to lease the island of Tulagi for 75 years,” Esper said in a statement. “This is an important decision to reinforce sovereignty, transparency, and the rule of law.”

Details of the long-term lease between the Solomon Islands’ Central Province and the China Sam Enterprise Group were only recently made public. News of the deal followed soon after Solomon Island officials announced in September that the nation was switching its diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but but do not think that the Chinese are not going to stop trying to create strategic bases in the South Pacific to pressure New Zealand and Australia with.