South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has rejected as “absurd” claims that his minister overseeing relations with North Korea revealed classified information provided by the US on Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities.
South Korean media have reported that the US has stopped sharing some intelligence on North Korea, partly because South Korean Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young spoke publicly about a previously unconfirmed uranium enrichment facility in the country.
Chung and his ministry have said his comments last month about the facility in an area called Kusong in North Korea were based on publicly available information, including research reports.
Photo: EPA
“It’s a clear fact that the existence of the Kusong nuclear facility was widely known globally even before Chung’s public comments through various research reports and news media,” Lee wrote on X late on Monday.
“Any claim or action based on the idea that Minister Chung ‘leaked classified information provided by the US’ is wrong. I’ll be looking closely into why something as absurd as this is happening,” he wrote.
Asked for comment, the US embassy in Seoul said it did not discuss details of diplomatic conversations.
The South Korean Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that US and South Korean intelligence authorities were maintaining close communication, including on North Korean missile launches, and that a robust intelligence-
sharing system between the allies remained in place.
Intelligence sharing between the allies was conducted on a mutually complementary basis, the ministry said, adding that analysis of North Korea’s ballistic missile launch on Sunday was conducted through the exchange and cross-verification of information by both sides.
The ministry also rejected an allegation raised by an opposition lawmaker calling for Chung’s dismissal, including a claim that the commander of US Forces Korea had protested strongly to South Korea’s defense minister over the issue.
Chung told a parliamentary committee last month that North Korea had been enriching weapons-grade uranium at Kusong, as well as in previously confirmed or suspected sites in Yongbyon and Kangson.
Yonhap News Agency yesterday reported that the US had limited sharing of some intelligence gathered from spy satellites.
The two countries have a defense treaty and the US has a major military presence in South Korea, including 28,500 troops.
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