Japan, South Korea biz leaders worry about GSOMIA

November 15, 2019

Tokyo--Japanese and South Korean business leaders Friday shared their concern about the imminent expiration of their countries' military intelligence-sharing pact, known as GSOMIA.

At a meeting in Tokyo, members of the Federation of Korean Industries said GSOMIA is one of the issues fueling the deterioration of the two countries' relations, informed sources said.

"We share a sense of crisis" over GSOMIA, or the General Security of Military Information Agreement, set to expire on Nov. 22, Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, told reporters.

Seoul in August decided not to renew the bilateral pact after Tokyo tightened trade controls on South Korea.

On Friday, the Japanese and South Korean business groups held their official top-level meeting for the first time in two years. The framework of the meeting started in 1983.

The day's gathering was attended 10 Keidanren representatives and 13 members of the South Korean federation.

The two sides adopted a joint statement confirming the importance of continuing private-sector exchanges no matter how bilateral political and diplomatic situations change.

"The Japanese and South Korean economies, embedded in one supply chain, are partners that are mutually essential," Keidanren Chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi said at the outset of the meeting.

"It's important for the Japanese and South Korean business worlds to continue dialogue in any environment," he said, also expressing eagerness to strengthen cooperation in new growth fields including artificial intelligence and internet of things, or IoT.

The South Korean federation's chairman, Huh Chang-soo, said the two countries should spearhead efforts to protect the value of the free and democratic market economy amid increasing threats to the international trade order from protectionism.

Huh also mentioned the idea of increasing the number of flights between the two countries during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games to promote exchanges among citizens.

Informed sources said the two sides did not discuss the issue of wartime labor, over which South Korea's Supreme Court last year ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to South Korean plaintiffs. Jiji Press