"At US Request," NIS Excluded from North Korea Response Meeting: Creaks in Alliance?

[Anchor]

It has been learned that South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) was unable to attend a trilateral consultation between South Korea, the United States, and Japan last June to address North Korean cyber threats, reportedly at the request of the U.S. side. The NIS stated that "there was some misunderstanding, but it is already in the past." Concerns are rising that warning lights may be flashing for cooperation between the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States.

Kim Jeong-yun reports.

[Reporter]

Following the agreement reached at the Camp David Summit in the United States in August 2023, the three nations—South Korea, the U.S., and Japan—have held working-group meetings once or twice a year to respond to North Korean cyber threats.

Around 60 officials, including cyber representatives from diplomatic authorities and related government agencies of the three nations, attended the fifth meeting held in Washington last June.

The number of participants dropped by around 10 compared to the previous meeting, and it was reported that South Korea's NIS, which has been in charge of cyber responses against North Korea, was unable to attend due to a request from the U.S. side.

The NIS stated, "There was some misunderstanding several months ago, but it is in the past," a comment widely interpreted as an indirect admission of the situation.

However, the NIS actively sought to clarify that some news reports claiming Director Lee Jong-suk was denied a visit to a North Korea monitoring agency in the U.S. this past March, or rumors that an NIS officer handling an investigation into Coupang was placed on a U.S. entry restriction list, are not true.

In particular, the NIS strongly rebutted such reports, characterizing them as an "attempt to shake the NIS" and expressing "grave concern."

While friction can occur between South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies, the situation is considered highly unusual because the signs have surfaced publicly.

Since Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young designated Kusong in North Pyongan Province as North Korea's third nuclear facility this past March, the United States has continued to partially restrict intelligence sharing with South Korea.

[Jin Young-seung / Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: While some parts are restricted, ultimately I think it is best for this situation to be resolved swiftly, and we are working toward that.]

A ruling party official told SBS, "It appears that U.S. dissatisfaction originated from the responses of the South Korean government and the NIS regarding the Coupang issue."

Military authorities explained, however, that there is no problem in South Korea-U.S. cooperation regarding critical military intelligence related to defense readiness.

Video by Kim Hyun-sang | Video Editing by Park Seon-soo
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.