As the clock ticks, Tokyo and Seoul look no closer to filling major gaps

It is "do or die" situation for South Korea because Seoul has to determine before Saturday whether to follow its remarkable decision to cancel a crucial intelligence-sharing deal with Japan in the middle of the neighbouring conflict over history and trade.

The United States, a key friend of both nations, has engaged frenziedly in almost regular exhortations to Seoul to revoke its position on the 2016 Military Information Se....