By Jack Kim and Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, April 21 (Reuters) – 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 U.S. on Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities.
South Korean media have reported the U.S. has stopped sharing some intelligence on North Korea, partly because Unification Minister Chung Dong-young spoke publicly about a previously unconfirmed uranium enrichment facility in the country.
Chung and his ministry have said his March comments about the facility in an area called Kusong in North Korea were based on publicly available information, including research reports.
“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 said in a post on X late on Monday.
“Any claim or action based on the idea that Minister Chung ‘leaked classified information provided by the U.S.’ is wrong. I’ll be looking closely into why something as absurd as this is happening,” he said.
In response to a request for comment, the U.S. embassy in Seoul said it did not discuss details of diplomatic conversations.
Seoul’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that U.S. 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 U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) had protested strongly to South Korea’s defence 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.
The Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday that the U.S. had limited sharing of some intelligence gathered from spy satellites.
The two countries have a defence treaty and the U.S. has a major military presence in South Korea, including 28,500 troops.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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