South Korea, US, Japan to share information on North Korea

South Korea, US and Japan have signed a military pact on sharing sensitive information on North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes, Seoul's defence ministry said Monday.

The pact came into effect Monday after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed Dec 23 by South Korean Vice Defence Minister Baek Seung-joo and his counterparts Robert Work of the US and Masanori Nishi of Japan was delivered to the US side earlier in the day, the ministry said.

The trilateral arrangement allows Seoul and Tokyo to share military secrets on North Korea's nuclear and missile threats via the US, which has bilateral military intelligence sharing accords with each of the two Asian countries, Yonhap News Agency reported.

It is the first trilateral agreement that allows the three countries to use their intelligence jointly on security threats from North Korea.

The agreement says that the information can be exchanged in any form, including documents, verbal communication and visual and electronic materials.