The United States has partly restricted the sharing of satellite intelligence on North Korea with South Korea due to recent remarks by Seoul’s unification minister about one of Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities, reports said.
Chung Dong-young told South Korea’s parliament last month that North Korea was suspected to operate a site for enriching uranium in the north-western Kusong region.
Washington, South Korea’s security ally, lodged protests over Chung’s comments, saying they disclosed sensitive information from US intelligence without authorisation, according to the South’s Yonhap news agency and multiple local outlets yesterday.
The restrictions have applied “since the beginning of this month” but “(do) not significantly affect military preparedness”, an unnamed South Korean military official was quoted as saying by Yonhap yesterday.
Seoul’s unification and defence ministries declined to comment on the reported restrictions.
The Pentagon did not respond to a request for confirmation.
Chung said on Monday it was “deeply regrettable” that his remarks had been interpreted as a leak of classified information, insisting that they were based on publicly available information and had been raised at his confirmation hearing in July.
President Lee Jae-myung has defended Chung, writing on X that it is a “clear fact” the existence of the Kusong facility was already widely known through academic papers and media reports.
“Any claims or actions premised on the assumption that Minister Chung leaked classified information provided by the United States are wrong,” Lee said. — AFP
