SEOUL, April 20. /TASS/. The US has partially restricted intelligence sharing on North Korea with Seoul following an alleged leak of information about Pyongyang’s third nuclear facility, the Hankyoreh reported, citing sources.
"Normally, [the US] sends us around 50 to 100 pages of daily intelligence [on North Korea], but we haven’t received such reports for a week now," a senior official within the ruling Democratic Party told the newspaper.
On March 6, during a parliamentary hearing, South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said there is a third nuclear facility in North Korea, located in the city of Kusong. US authorities concluded that the minister had disclosed classified information received from Washington and, through private channels, expressed dissatisfaction and signaled their intention to partially suspend intelligence sharing.
The Dong-A Ilbo first reported the development on April 17, citing a source who said data sharing had been halted. Other outlets, including Yonhap and News1, reported the same on April 19.
In monitoring North Korea, Seoul relies heavily on US intelligence capabilities, including satellite assets. With the information now public, Pyongyang may take steps to conceal its activities further or attempt to identify the source of the leak, according to The Hankyoreh.
"Our armed forces maintain combat readiness in coordination with the United States, and the information-sharing system continues to function," the South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said at a briefing on April 20.
Relations crisis
Earlier, the South Korean Ministry of Unification said the minister’s remarks were based on publicly available information from US think tanks. "This is public information. I also mentioned Kusong during my confirmation hearing last year," Chung Dong-young said on Monday.
"The behavior of certain individuals who are spreading claims about a crisis in relations between South Korea and the United States amid the current challenging security environment, against the backdrop of the war in the Middle East, is concerning," the minister said. "I suspect there is some hidden motive behind raising this issue nine months later," Chung Dong-young added, without specifying who might benefit.
He noted that the US "has periodically suspended" intelligence sharing in the past and expressed hope for a "swift and peaceful resolution" of the situation through dialogue. In its April 17 report, The Dong-A Ilbo also suggested that the minister’s remarks may have served as a pretext for Washington to voice broader, accumulated concerns over other issues in bilateral relations.