What Lies Behind 'Intelligence and Counterintelligence' Singled Out by US Over Alliance Standards

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Last weekend, what the United States officially raised issues with was specifically matters related to "intelligence" and "counterintelligence." According to our reporting, the intelligence issue was that SI, or Special Intelligence, provided by our military has recently declined significantly, while the counterintelligence issue was found to be complaints that South Korea is failing to properly respond even as Chinese nationals spy on U.S. Forces Korea bases.

Defense Specialist Reporter Kim Tae-hoon reports.

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Last month, the Pyeongtaek Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office arrested and indicted two Chinese nationals on charges of wiretapping communications between military aircraft and control towers at U.S. Air Force and Navy bases in Busan; Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province; and Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.

One of the indicted Chinese nationals is a retired veteran who served for 40 years in an interception unit of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Incidents in which Chinese nationals are caught photographing internal facilities and military assets at U.S. Air Force and Navy bases stationed in South Korea also occur frequently.

A senior government official told SBS, "While spying activities by Chinese nationals on USFK bases are increasing, our response is relatively inadequate."

The official lamented, "In particular, with the military's counterintelligence functions and personnel scaled back due to the disbandment of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, it is difficult to detect Chinese espionage against USFK bases in a timely manner, and we have been unable to respond to requests from the U.S. to strengthen counterintelligence activities against Chinese nationals."

This means that the "counterintelligence" issue cited by the U.S. government when mentioning "adherence to alliance standards" refers precisely to our counterintelligence response against Chinese spying on USFK bases.

Among the alliance standards, the "intelligence" issue is understood to be linked to the activities of units under the Defense Intelligence Headquarters.

A key military official stated, "South Korea-U.S. intelligence sharing is a reciprocal relationship of give and take, and the U.S. side particularly prefers North Korea-related SI produced by the Defense Intelligence Headquarters' 777 Command and Defense Intelligence Command—specifically special intelligence obtained by analyzing communications intercepts and signals intelligence."

The official added, "However, under the current administration, units under the Defense Intelligence Headquarters shrank in terms of organization and function in the aftermath of martial law and considerations of inter-Korean relations, leading to a decrease in the volume of North Korea SI. As a result, the amount of SI provided to the U.S. side decreased, and the U.S. is voicing complaints about this."

Because counterintelligence and SI capabilities cannot be restored in a short period of time, the controversy over cracks in South Korea-U.S. intelligence cooperation is expected to persist for the time being.

(Video by Kim Hyun-sang | Video Editing by Jeong Seong-hoon | Graphics by Han Heung-soo)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.