Criticism is growing over Washington's pressure on Seoul to renew a bilateral intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, as Japan remains cool to the idea of a Seoul-Tokyo summit and mum over any reciprocal efforts to build momentum in bilateral and trilateral relations.

Ahead of the official deadline to extend the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) on Nov. 23, senior U.S. government officials met with presidential aides, lawmakers and high-ranking government officials and asked them to renew the pact.

Seoul's decision to terminate the pact followed Japan's "retaliatory" trade restrictions against South Korean Supreme Court's order last year to some Japanese firms to compensate surviving South Korean victims of forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula.

"What makes the situation worse is that Washington is moving actively to defend its national interest. Given the decades-long military alliance between Seoul and Washington, the U.S.' pressing on Seoul over GSOMIA and defense-cost sharing issues would damage the alliance...