[Editorial] US contradicting itself by pressuring S. Korea to extend GSOMIA

David Stilwell, US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, talks to reporters at the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Nov. 6. (Yonhap News)

David Stilwell, US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, talks to reporters at the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Nov. 6. (Yonhap News)

As we approach the termination of South Korea and Japan’s GSOMIA military intelligence-sharing agreement, scheduled for Nov. 23, the US is exerting intense pressure on South Korea to reverse its decision to terminate the agreement. But the decision to terminate was a reluctant countermeasure taken by the South Korean government against Japan’s economic retribution. The US is contradicting itself when it claims it has no intention of intervening in the South Korea-Japan conflict only to take issue with South Korea’s GSOMIA termination. If the US is truly concerned about the agreement being scrapped, the first thing it ought to do is push Japan to retract the economic retribution that drove South Korea to make that decision in the first place.

During his visit to South Korea, David Stilwell, US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, reportedly communicated Washington’s desire for GSOMIA’s extension during meetings with a wide range of South Korean officials from the Blue House, Defense Ministry, and Foreign Ministry on Nov. 6. When asked by a reporter how the GSOMIA talks went, Stilwell said that he had “fantastic discussions,” hinting that he asked South Korea to reverse its decision to terminate the agreement.

In recent weeks, the US has been exerting pressure on GSOMIA from multiple directions. During an interview with the Japanese press this past weekend, Marc Knapper, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Korea and Japan, called for a swift solution to GSOMIA, which he described as an important tool for cooperation among South Korea, Japan, and the US. But Knapper also dismissed the option of the US mediating between the two sides. While he didn’t explicitly call out South Korea, emphasizing the importance of GSOMIA without taking any action behind the scenes basically amounts to pressure on South Korea.

Joseph Young, charg