South Korea has pushed for the normalization of the Military Intelligence Protection Agreement (GSOMIA), which allows South Korea and Japan to share military intelligence.

(Associated Press file photo)

[Central News Agency] South Korea confirmed today that it has pushed for the normalization of the "Secret Protection of Military Information Agreement" (GSOMIA), which allows South Korea and Japan to share military intelligence.

Faced with the growing threat from Pyongyang, relations between South Korea and Japan are gradually melting.

Agence France-Presse reported that before South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the above decision, President Yoon Suk-yue had just visited Tokyo last week and met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, which was the first highest-level bilateral meeting between the two countries in 12 years.

The two sides agreed to put an end to a historical dispute stemming from Japan's 35-year colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.

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Yoon reportedly told Kishida that he hoped for a "full normalization" of the "military intelligence protection agreement" signed by the two countries in 2016.

The agreement is designed to allow the two U.S. allies to share military secrets with each other, particularly regarding North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities.

However, the relationship between the Seoul authorities and the Tokyo government deteriorated in 2019, and they threatened to scrap the agreement.

South Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement today that Seoul "informed the Japanese side through a written document" of its decision to normalize the military pact.

The South Korean foreign ministry's move was reported by media over the weekend.

The statement said the move "eliminates uncertainty and lays the foundation for enhanced military intelligence sharing between South Korea and Japan, as well as between South Korea, Japan and the United States."

Yoon has sought to improve relations with Tokyo, citing security challenges on the Korean peninsula, despite strong domestic backlash from victims of World War II-era "job labor" (the forced labor of South Korean workers by Japanese companies).

Yun Xiyue said at a cabinet meeting today that Japan has expressed self-reflection and apologized dozens of times for historical issues, but some forces in South Korean society are trying to seek political benefits through criticism.