South Korea changed track Friday ahead of a midnight deadline to leave a three-year-old strategic alliance with Japan known as the General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA. South Korea’s planned withdrawal would have signified a worrying divide between two of America’s most important allies in the region. U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper had pleaded with South Korea to stay. The reversal came after Japan President Shinzo Abe announced his country would resume talks with South Korea over export controls, which led to South Korea’s decision to leave the alliance.