MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2019) The US-Japan-South Korea alliance was on the brink of collapse as Seoul announced it would not be extending its 2016 General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan, which was set to expire on Saturday, but now looks to be safe after South Korean authorities reversed their decision earlier in the day.
The alliance has also faced crisis due to a dispute over mutual trade restrictions between Tokyo and Seoul, which is what led to the developments around the GSOMIA in the first place. All the while Washington has been pressuring its Asian allies to pay significantly more to maintain US troops stationed in the region.
Seoul announced its intention to withdraw from the intelligence-sharing pact in late August amid a series of nuclear and missile tests by North Korea. Earlier on Friday, however, the country went back on its earlier decision and extended the pact on the condition that it could be terminated at any moment
Before the reversal was announced, diplomats and officials from both countries held several rounds of talks amid US calls for reconciliation. South Korea said it would reconsider its participation in GSOMIA if Japan agreed to lift the export restrictions that led to Seoul having to take such drastic measures.
BAD BLOOD BETWEEN TWO ASIAN NATIONS
Seoul's decision to scrap the pact was a response to Japan curbing exports to South Korea in July. The United States had recommended that Seoul reconsider ending the deal, but the latter wanted Japan to first cancel its restrictions.
In June, Japanese-South Korean ties suffered a major hit following the South Korean Supreme Court's decision to order compensation from Japanese companies to former Korean workers who were forced into labor during World War II.
Tokyo's position regarding the reparations is that the bilateral 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations had fully resolved the matter. From the Japanese point of view, the court rulings go against previous agreements between the two US allies in the region.
"Mutual trust and confidence have been badly damaged. It will take time to repair. Tokyo is convinced that Seoul does not want a working relationship and believes that it seeks to retain the moral high ground viz a viz Japan. To remedy that perception, the ROK [South Korea] government must show sincerity and genuine commitment to building a forward-looking relationship," Brand Glosserman, the deputy director of the Center for Rule Making Strategies at the Tama University in Japan, told Sputnik.
Speaking about the GSOMIA crisis, which has now been successfully averted, Glosserman stressed that a complete withdrawal from the pact would have negatively affected the relationship between all the three countries, as there would have been a lack of quick and efficient communications.
TURNING US TROOPS INTO MERCENARY FORCES
According to Glosserman, US President Donald Trump indicated that he would reduce the US military presence abroad if his financial demands were not met.
"US demands encourage the belief that the US is mercenary and transactional and that Trump thinks that the alliance is merely another instrument in a foreign policy tool kit, rather than the expression of longstanding political, cultural and moral ties. It devalues the relationship and undermines confidence in Washington," the deputy director said.
Hoo Chiew-Ping, a senior lecturer in strategic studies and international relations at the National University of Malaysia (UKM), told Sputnik that Washington was failing at its role of being a conflict mediator between its two allies.
"The value of alliance cannot be quantified and US forces in Korea and Japan's contribution is immeasurable in financial terms. The fact that the Trump administration, including the DoD [Department of Defense], supported the drastic increase of burden-sharing by their allies is shocking, as this would certainly 'transform' the alliance relations in East Asia. The figure is almost as if the host countries are bearing 100% of the cost, if not more. In the case of South Korea, it may exceed the total cost of stationing the troops, which means the US military has become a mercenary force, losing its competence and high moral ground of maintaining a just and rules-based order," Hoo said.
The UKM lecturer added that the reduced military presence would harm South Korea and Japan's defense positions and that both nations would want to keep the US troops "while looking for mid- to long-term transition approach in bolstering their defense forces, with adjustment made in alliance arrangements if the US refuses to budge on the cost-sharing demand."
Hoo emphasized that it was in the best interests of all parties to continue cooperating in all spheres, given the North Korean military continues to develop its capacity.
