Controversies surrounding Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's alleged US intel leak show no signs of abating, with the conservative bloc claiming that a complaint was lodged by the commander of US Forces Korea.
Rep. Sung Il-jong, chair of the National Defense Committee at the National Assembly, said Tuesday that USFK Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson had met with South Korea's Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back to protest Chung's public remarks that North Korea had been enriching uranium in a facility located in Kusong.
Sung, a three-term lawmaker of the main opposition People Power Party, also said that an unnamed official of the US Embassy in South Korea in charge of intelligence complained to South Korea's spy agency about Chung's remarks, which reportedly led to a partial suspension of Washington's information sharing with Seoul.
Accusing Chung of creating fissures in the alliance between South Korea and the US, Sung said during a press conference at the National Assembly that Chung should resign from his post immediately, adding that Chung's denial of any US intelligence leakage "is widening the rift" between Seoul and Washington.
The Defense Ministry flatly denied Sung's claim. In a note to reporters released Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said it is "not true at all" and that it would have been "inappropriate" had it happened.
The government added that the two countries have been frequently communicating with each other on major issues while strictly abiding by the military intelligence sharing pact, but declined to elaborate further.
The spat followed President Lee Jae Myung's Monday night post on X. In it, he defended Chung's stance that his revelation of a North Korean nuclear facility in Kusong during a parliamentary meeting on March 6 was based on information available to the public, not classified information provided by the US.
Chung said Monday that knowledge regarding one of the North Korean nuclear sites located in Kusong has been made public via reports from the US-based Institute for Science and International Security, as well as from American think tanks Center for Strategic and International Studies and Rand Corp. Chung did not confirm then whether US information sharing had been limited.
Referencing a news report about Chung's remarks Monday, Lee wrote that any claim or action presuming that Chung had leaked classified information provided by the US is wrong, adding that the existence of the Kusong facility was made public via reports and news coverage.
"I will look into why absurd things like this are happening now," Lee wrote.
The Democratic Party of Korea echoed such a stance, slamming its rival for unsettling the alliance.
Rep. Han Byung-do, floor leader of the Democratic Party who has stepped down from the post to rerun for the position, said in a party meeting Tuesday that the People Power Party was exaggerating a trivial issue.
"The People Power Party must immediately stop its words and actions that undermine the Korea-US alliance," Han said, adding the existence of a nuclear facility in Kusong was referenced in a 2016 report by ISIS and has since been reported multiple times.
Meanwhile, Victor Cha, Korea Chair of the CSIS, denied Chung's remarks that the think tank had publicized the Kusong facility via its report.
"Just for information, (the CSIS) has never done a report on nuke facilities at Kusong. Just setting the record straight," Cha noted on X.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
