Japan did not offer South Korea any intelligence on North Korea's recent test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) despite a bilateral intelligence-sharing pact that took effect last month, a government source here said Thursday.



The source said that although the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) went into force on Nov. 23, there should be additional consultations over how to enforce the deal -- the first military arrangement between the two neighbors since South Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.



"We have found that the North carried out a land-based experiment on an SLBM, but there is no information that we have received from the Japanese side regarding the test," the source said, declining to be identified.



"Although the GSOMIA was signed, it is still premature to receive intelligence from Japan. We need more discussions between the related departments of the two countries," he added.



Seoul and Tokyo inked the deal as part of efforts to counter Pyongyang's evolving nuclear and missile threats. Japan is equipped with a large number of intelligence-gathering assets such as five military satellites that can cover the entirety of the Korean Peninsula.



The deal has long been a source of contention in South Korean politics as opposition parties have criticized the government for failing to make sufficient efforts to build public consensus over the agreement.



The parties' stance reflects some citizens' opposition to any military collaboration with their onetime colonizer, which they think failed to fully atone for its colonial-era misdeeds, including Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women. (Yonhap)