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South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono hold bilateral talks in Bangkok on Nov. 17. (Ministry of National Defense)

South Korea and Japan held bilateral defense minister talks in Bangkok but failed to make meaningful progress in bridging their differences ahead of the scheduled termination of their General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) at midnight on Nov. 23, reports say. The meeting of the two sides’ defense ministers was the first in five months following a June meeting in Singapore to resolve issues concerning a patrol aircraft incident, as well as the first since Taro Kono was named as Japan’s defense minister.

Meeting with Kono on Nov. 17 in Bangkok, where the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus was taking place, South Korean Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo “stressed that the South Korean government’s decision to end GSOMIA was an unavoidable decision in response to Japan’s imposition of export controls for security-related reasons” and “appealed strongly for a change in Japan’s stance,” the Ministry of National Defense (MND) reported. The mood at the meeting, which lasted for 40 minutes at the Avani+ Riverside Bangkok Hotel, was described as “chilly” throughout.

During a meeting with reporters, Jeong said, “With regard to GSOMIA, Japan stated that it hopes [the agreement] can be maintained.” Jeong explained the GSOMIA issue was “discussed in general terms” in his meeting with Kono, which suggested that the differences between the two sides were too large for concrete discussions to take place. When reporters asked whether a change in Japan’s attitude could be foreseen before GSOMIA ends, Jeong remained tight-lipped.

“There isn’t anything I can say at the moment,” he said.

In his own remarks after the meeting, Kono said he had “asked South Korea for a judicious response regarding GSOMIA.” The Japanese government has criticized Seoul’s decision to end GOSMIA as indicating a “completely mistaken judgment of the regional security environment.” The “judicious response” referred to by Kono was a call for the South Korean government to retract its decision to end GSOMIA.

In a joint press conference with Jeong in Bangkok, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper reiterated the Trump administration’s stance that South Korea and Japan should overcome their differences through dialogue and cooperate with the US to keep GSOMIA in place.

Discussing GSOMIA’s termination in a Nov. 15 meeting with Esper at the Blue House, South Korean President Moon Jae-in reaffirmed Seoul’s basic position that it “cannot share military information with Japan when it has imposed export control measures on the grounds that it ‘cannot trust’ [South Korea] in security terms.”

The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported the same day that the Japanese government had finalized and communicated to Washington its position that it will not remove its export control measures against South Korea. According to the newspaper, Tokyo carried out another review of its response measures on GSOMIA based on its discussions with South Korean diplomatic authorities and talks between South Korea and Japan before finalizing its decision on Nov. 15 to continue its current approach.

With South Korea and Japan merely confirming their differences at the defense minister talks, the circumstances suggest an even greater likelihood that GSOMIA will expire at midnight on Nov. 23, barring a dramatic shift in the situation.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer, and Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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