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SOUTH KOREA will cancel intelligence-sharing with Japan in response to downgraded trade status, officials said today.
The two US allies, each of which functions as a base for tens of thousands of US troops, are crucial parts of Washington’s military encirclement of China and North Korea.
The announcement was described as “unbelievable” and “extremely regrettable” by Japanese officials.
South Korea’s presidential office said it was terminating the intelligence-sharing agreements because of new Japanese restrictions on the export of chemicals needed for the manufacture of semiconductors and display screens.
Seoul accuses Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of attacking its economy in revenge for South Korean complaints about Japan whitewashing its occupation record.
This is especially significant in relation to the Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army — the so-called “comfort women.”
Mr Abe is the grandson of World War II war criminal Nobusuke Kishi, known as the “Devil of Showa” for his brutal rule of occupied Manchuria.
