South Korea and Japan on Wednesday signed the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) that created the framework for both protection and sharing of secret military information, Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 


The negotiations on the pact began in 2012, but ground to a halt as the opposition parties in Japan protested against the deal. 


After the two first rounds of the talks reopened in November Tokyo and Seoul reportedly agreed on a few major points, including the prohibition to supply third parties with intelligence information without each other's approval and the necessity to inform the other party if the information has been compromised in any way. 


"Signing of the deal allows us to expect an appropriate protection of secret military information, which will be provided by the governments of Japan and South Korea [to each other], as well as an unimpeded and fast exchange of information between the governments of the two countries," the statement said. 


The statement added that South Korea would provide Japan with information about Pyongyang's ballistic missiles and information from North Korean defectors, while Tokyo would give its partners information about North Korean submarines and satellite images of Pyongyang's preparations to missile tests

Source: NNA