Pressure kept on Seoul for intelligence pact with Japan

Tokyo and Washington continued to exert pressure on Seoul to keep an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan that is set to expire this weekend, with the top defense officials of the two countries stressing the pact's importance during a meeting on Monday.

Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono and United States Defense Secretary Mark Esper reaffirmed the value of the intelligence arrangement when they met in Bangkok on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus. The event is part of the framework promoting practical defense cooperation between the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other countries including China, Japan and the US.

"We discussed a wide range of issues," Esper told reporters after the meeting.