According to Yonhap News Agency's report on October 9th, as concerns among South Korean politicians over discord between South Korea and the United States' intelligence agencies continue to grow, it seems that the South Korean government is also considering measures to address this situation.
Recently, it was reported that the United States refused to allow the South Korean National Intelligence Agency to attend the fifth trilateral diplomatic meeting on dealing with North Korea's cyberthreats held in Washington in June this year.
The National Intelligence Agency stated that relations between countries sometimes lead to misunderstandings due to differences in interests. It is important to know how to resolve these misunderstandings in a timely manner. Currently, there are no issues between the Korean and American intelligence agencies, and they maintain close communication on security matters related to the internet and North Korea. Regarding the reasons for the US refusal to allow the Korean side to participate, the National Intelligence Agency indicated that it would not be appropriate to disclose them.
The South Korea, the United States, and Japan working group on addressing North Korean cyberthreats was established in August 2023, taking advantage of the Davos Summit among South Korean, American, and Japanese leaders. Their first meeting took place in December of the same year. It was the first time that the National Intelligence Agency was absent from this meeting. Analysts believe that the US refusal to allow South Korean participants may have been a protest against remarks made by South Korea's Minister for Unification, Chung Dong-won, which referred to "North Korean nuclear facilities." After that, the US restricted the sharing of information related to North Korea with South Korea.
Other reports indicate that Lee Jong-seok, the director of the National Intelligence Agency, originally planned to visit the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in the United States in March, but he did not make the trip.
Regarding this, the National Intelligence Agency strongly denied that there were any plans for Li Zhongshi to visit the National Geographic Space Intelligence Agency in the United States. However, subsequent reports about inconsistencies between South Korea and the United States continued to surface.
On the 9th, there were reports that U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Loerner expressed distrust towards the South Korean National Intelligence Service to Minister of Industry and Trade Kim Jung-woon. The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the National Intelligence Service immediately denied this, trying to calm the situation.
Although the South Korean government actively denies these doubts, it seems that even within the government there is astonishment over the ongoing chaos. A senior official from the ruling party said in an interview with reporters that there are several problems between South Korea and the United States, and these issues are indeed affecting the overall bilateral relations. It is not a good thing for the two countries’ relations to be so tumultuous. The official specifically pointed out that problems in the intelligence sector are by no means ideal situations.
Some believe that high-ranking South Korean officials, including the Secretary of State for National Security, Yi Seung-rol, should visit the United States in order to break the deadlock. In response, people from the ruling party said that there is currently no plan for Yi Seung-rol to visit the US. However, he also stated that it is indeed time to explore various solutions. This statement may imply that the government has not ruled out the possibility of Yi Seung-rol visiting the US.
In addition, some opinions expect South Korea to take advantage of the remaining international multilateral summits in the second half of this year to find an opportunity to turn the situation around.
