S.Korean minister to visit Japan ahead of deadline on intelligence pact

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-Wha will visit Japan on Friday for a meeting of the Group of 20 big economies, a diplomatic source said, as the neighbor's pact to share intelligence is set to end over a diplomatic and trade dispute.

Saturday is the pact's deadline, and Kang is traveling regardless of a final decision by South Korea, which is still being discussed, the source said on condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

South Korea's move to let its GSOMIA pact with Tokyo lapse defies mounting U.S. pressure to maintain a key element of security cooperation among the three.