South Korea to scrap military intel sharing pact with Japan

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Seoul: South Korea said Thursday it will terminate its military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan amid intensifying trade and diplomatic disputes with Tokyo.

The decision comes as Seoul and Tokyo are locked in a tit-for-tat trade and diplomatic dispute following a series of South Korean court rulings against Japanese firms, requiring them to pay for forced labour during World War II.

Japan had removed South Korea from a so-called white list of countries that receive preferential export treatments earlier this month “without presenting clear justifications”, said Kim You-geun, a national security official at the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

He said Tokyo had done so citing security concerns and a loss of trust with South Korea, and that caused “significant change” in the nature of defence cooperation.

“In such a situation, we have determined it is not in the national interest to maintain the agreement that was signed for the purpose of exchanging sensitive military intelligence,” he added.