South Korea decided on Friday against scrapping a critical military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, in a dramatic 11th-hour U-turn that will come as a relief to the United States.
The pact was due to expire at midnight amid a sharp deterioration in ties between the two democracies and market economies that has alarmed Washington as it seeks to curb the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea.
But after a flurry of last-ditch diplomacy, Seoul announced it would “conditionally” suspend the expiry of the agreement with just six hours left on the clock. Kim You-geun, a national security official at Seoul’s presidential Blue House, confirmed the accord, known as GSOMIA, would not be allowed to lapse at midnight.