U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, David Stilwell, is in Seoul for a series of meetings with South Korean officials.<br />His visit has drawn more attention than it might normally do... because a joint military intel-sharing pact between Seoul and Tokyo is set to expire within weeks and it's a deal Washington wants extended.<br />For more, we have our Kim Min-ji on the line.<br />Min-ji, what's the latest?<br />Devin, Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell was at Seoul's defense ministry for talks with South Korean officials,... including Deputy Defense Minister Chung Suk-hwan.<br />Upon arriving,... he said he has had fantastic discussions today on topics of agreement.<br />That's the response he gave as reporters asked whether GSOMIA, a military intel-sharing pact between South Korea and Japan,... came up during his sit down with Seoul's foreign minister earlier this morning.<br />We don't know for sure if it was a direct response to the GSOMIA question,... but what we do know is that Washington wants this pact extended.<br />In fact, a lot of attention has been on the message Stilwell will deliver regarding Seoul's decision to pull out of the intel-sharing pact with Tokyo.<br />In August, Seoul decided not to extend the pact... in response to Japan's economic retaliation over a court ruling ordering Japanese firms to compensate South Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor.<br />It was widely speculated that Stilwell would urge South Korea to retract its decision,... citing the importance of trilateral security cooperation.<br />We understand Stilwell met with Seoul's foreign minister and vice minister earlier today. Was anything significant addressed there?<br />Well, Stilwell told reporters after the meetings that key issues in their bilateral relationship were discussed.<br />He didn't answer questions regarding GSOMIA,... but something to note is that he stressed the U.S. sees the meeting between President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as an encouraging sign.<br />If you recall, Moon and Abe had a roughly 10-minute conversation on the sidelines of ASEAN meetings in Bangkok a couple of days back.<br />Stilwell also emphasized that the South Korea-U.S. alliance is the linchpin of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region.<br />So there hasn't been any public pressure from Washington... but there's speculation that the issue was brought up during their closed door discussions.<br />That's all I have for now, back to you Devin.<br />
