The Japanese government has taken the position of watching the situation and not taking countermeasures for now against South Korea following Seoul’s official notification that it is scrapping the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan.

 “In terms of regional security, cooperation among Japan and South Korea — or Japan, the United States and South Korea — remains important.” Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters at the ministry on Friday, strongly urging South Korea to “rethink and respond wisely.” 

A senior Japanese government official said: “No countermeasures are being taken. We’ll take a wait-and-see approach.”

The government is exercising self-restraint because it believes that it is not necessary for Japan to take any new steps against South Korea, as Seoul’s decision has been criticized by the United States. Tokyo will continue to urge the government in Seoul to deal with the issue of South Korean former wartime requisitioned workers.

The government believes that it can take measures against North Korea by further strengthening Japan-U.S. cooperation and that the South Korean decision to scrap the GSOMIA will have only a limited impact on Japan’s national security.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was to hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in France, where the Group of Seven summit started on Saturday, to again discuss cooperation on North Korea. Regarding North Korea’s launches of short-range ballistic missiles, a senior defense ministry official said, “By sharing information with the U.S., we will handle the situation in such a way to avoid any impact being felt [by the termination of GSOMIA].”

Much criticism of South Korea’s decision came from the Japanese ruling camp.

“If North Korea mistakenly takes South Korea’s decision as a message, it may affect the U.S. denuclearization efforts,” Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai said in his statement.

 Fumio Kishida, LDP Policy Research Council chairman, said, “It is very regrettable, as some one who was strongly aware of its importance.”

 Kishida was involved in concluding the GSOMIA when he was foreign minister.

 Fukushiro Nukaga, chairman of the Japan-Korea Parliamentarians’ Union, spoke by phone with Kang Chang-il, head of the South Korea-Japan Parliamentarians’ League, and told him that the decision was hard to understand. Nukaga said to Kang, “The Korean government should create an environment in which it can make appropriate decisions.”

The union decided to postpone a joint general meeting with its South Korean counterparts that was scheduled for Sept. 18 to 19 in Tokyo.