Why did Seoul delay intelligence deal signing with Tokyo?

The Japanese government gave a calm official response Friday to South Korea`s last-minute postponement of a planned signing ceremony for their General Security of Military Information Agreement, saying it had "no choice but to have consideration for the Korean government."

The response indicates Tokyo`s calculation that it did not need to stimulate Seoul as the two sides would eventually sign the accord. Nonetheless, Japanese officials expressed a sense of embarrassment.

An official at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo said, "South Korea made a sudden announcement that it would hold off on signing the agreement though both sides had already made a promise on the time of the signing ceremony. This is impossible under diplomatic practice. It is very regrettable."

Japanese journalists received an official briefing on the ceremony around 11 a.m. but were perplexed after being informed about the postponement at 3:10 p.m., just 50 minutes before the event was scheduled to start.

"When a diplomatic event is postponed or canceled, it is a diplomatic custom to courteously inform the other party," one Japanese reporter said. "I`ve never seen an event being postponed on the day when it was scheduled to take place."

Japan has pinned high hopes on the agreement to strengthen its intelligence gathering on North Korea. Tokyo had experienced much confusion in April, when it failed to obtain information about North Korea`s missile launch because of its geographical limitations despite its deployment of an Aegis destroyer. Therefore, some people say South Korea seemed to have made the matter unnecessarily controversial by failing to deal with it with confidence.

"The Japan-South Korea General Security of Military Information Agreement is not about exchanging military secrets but about protecting military intelligence between the two countries," said Narushige Michishita, a professor at Japan`s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. "It seems that such details about the military agreement were not conveyed to the South Korean public properly." He also expressed regret that the signing ceremony was postponed because of "misunderstanding" by South Koreans.

The dominant view in Japan`s diplomatic community is that the incident shows the extent of the divide in the relationship between the two neighbors. "It was a reminder of how deep the shadows of past history are, including the issue of wartime sex slavery," a Japanese official said. Others, however, said Tokyo made a mistake. A Japanese expert on the Korean Peninsula said, "The Japanese government stimulated South Koreans in many ways while pursuing the pact by deploying an Aegis warship in the Yellow Sea and revising its basic law on nuclear development to cause controversy over Japan`s nuclear armament. Both countries lacked diplomatic consideration for each other at a time when both were in a political season."

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