Japan's Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Tuesday military intelligence sharing with Seoul is key despite worsening bilateral relations. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

July 23 (UPI) -- The Japanese defense ministry called for the extension of an intelligence sharing agreement with South Korea.

Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Tuesday Tokyo will need to extend the agreement known as Japan-Korea GSOMIA, Jiji Press reported.


The deal signed in November 2016 renews automatically for a year unless one side notifies the other in writing 90 days before expiration a notification of termination, according to South Korean news service News 1.

Last week South Korea's presidential Blue House had suggested GSOMIA could come "under review" if Japan escalates trade retaliation.

The suggestion came in direct response to Japan's trade restrictions, targeting South Korean tech giants like Samsung and SK Hynix.

Japan's policy to delay the export of key chemicals to South Korea is designed to exclusively punish Korean companies. The measure comes after Japan said Seoul had damaged trust between the countries by raising the issue of forced wartime labor.

GSOMIA was the first bilateral military consensus reached between the two countries since the end of World War II. The deal was signed in 2016 under then-President Park Geun-hye. It has enabled Seoul and Tokyo to share military intelligence regarding North Korea.

Intelligence South Korea shares with Japan includes screening and video information collected by reconnaissance aircraft, and information obtained by intercepting wireless communication originating from North Korean military facilities located between Pyongyang and the military demarcation line inside the Korean demilitarized zone.

Japan may have benefited from the intelligence sharing, given the South's greater proximity to the Kim Jong Un regime.

"When we consider the peace and stability of the region, the solidarity of the United States and Japan, South Korea and Japan, and the United States, Japan and South Korea, are extremely important," Iwaya said, according to Jiji Press.

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The defense minister also said the challenge is to cooperate with South Korea.

Earlier this week Iwaya met with U.S. official John Bolton.