| Advertisement |
Nov. 26 (UPI) -- A pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan warned South Korea less than a week after Seoul decided to conditionally extend a military intelligence pact with Tokyo. Choson Sinbo, a publication of Pyongyang's de facto embassy in Japan, said the South Korean decision to extend the General Security of Military Information Agreement would have repercussions, including "worse" North-South relations.
Advertisement
North Korea has rejected the South's offers of economic cooperation and assistance in 2019, despite a brief meeting in June between Kim Jong Un and President Moon Jae-in, when U.S. President Donald Trump met with Kim at the border village of Panmunjom.
On Tuesday, the Choson Sinbo said Seoul's "conditional extension" has brought "anger and disappointment."
"The South Korea-Japan military intelligence agreement could lead to a military support agreement, a mutual defense treaty and even a South Korea-Japan military alliance," the pro-Pyongyang paper said. "The conditional extension of GSOMIA is clouding the prospects of inter-Korea relations."
The paper did not supply evidence Japan and South Korea could deepen security cooperation.
Tokyo and Seoul are locked in a bitter dispute over the colonial past, compensation for former Korean forced laborers, "comfort women" and trade restrictions.
South Korea had decided in the summer to allow GSOMIA to expire without renewal in response to a unilateral Japanese decision to apply trade restrictions against South Korean tech companies. Japan went on to remove Korea from a "white list" of preferred trading partners.
The two sides have continued disputes since last week, South Korean news service EDaily reported Tuesday.
Japan's denial on Monday that it had apologized for what Seoul has described as "deliberately distorting" the details of South Korea's decision to stay in GSOMIA was met with a response in Seoul on Tuesday.
South Korea's foreign ministry said it is "regrettable" Japan is denying that it has apologized, according to EDaily.
