Lee Jong-seok, director of the National Intelligence Service, confirmed on the 29th that it is true that some information is restricted due to Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's remarks regarding "North Korea's nuclear facilities" regarding intelligence cooperation between Korea and the United States.
Director Lee answered questions from ruling and opposition party lawmakers at the National Assembly Intelligence Committee audit held at the National Intelligence Service building in Seoul as follows, Rep. Yoon Geon-yeong of the Democratic Party of Korea and Rep. Yoo Young-ha of the People Power Party, who are secretaries of the ruling and opposition parties on the Intelligence Committee, reported in a briefing.
Representative Yoon revealed that Director Lee responded to the question, "Isn't ROK-US intelligence cooperation progressing properly?" by saying, "Some information is restricted due to (Minister Chung's) remarks regarding 'composition', but other than that, there are no restrictions on information at all."
Representative Yoo further explained that Director Lee explained, "Information restrictions are only limited to a very small portion, but this is sufficiently supplemented by the reconnaissance assets of the National Intelligence Service that we have. So, the public does not have to worry too much."
When asked about the source of Minister Jeong's 'constructed' remarks, Director Lee confirmed, "The source was not the National Intelligence Service. The National Intelligence Service has never provided such information," Rep. Yoo said.
Rep. Yoo said, "(The National Intelligence Service) understands that the first information restrictions were triggered by Minister Jeong's compositional remarks," and added, "The information that the United States has most superiorly is satellite image assets, but (the United States) said that it does not provide (us) information limited to that in a narrow range, and explained that we can make up for it with the reconnaissance assets that we have."
He added, “The SI (special handling) information we acquired is also of high quality, so information is exchanged with each other, and the quality or quantity of the information we give (to the United States) is in no way inferior to the quality and quantity of American information.”
Rep. Yoon also explained, "(Director of the National Intelligence Service) did not agree with the question itself and explained that the premise that intelligence cooperation between Korea and the United States is not working properly was wrong." He added, "As reported in the media, only certain pieces of information are not being provided after the made-up remarks, but the National Intelligence Service's response was that in other parts, intelligence cooperation between Korea and the United States is going more smoothly than ever."
In additional questions in the afternoon, Director Lee was asked repeatedly by an opposition member, "Are there really any problems with the ROK-US alliance?" to which Director Lee reportedly responded, "We have never had a major conflict with the United States in the field of intelligence and counterintelligence, there are no problems with the intelligence collection ability of the National Intelligence Service, and we are fully aware of the information."
Rep. Yoon said, “The Director of the National Intelligence Service explained very strongly that there was no problem with the intelligence cooperation between Korea and the United States. He cited several examples and reported with the intention of asking people to believe that intelligence cooperation is flawless.”
During the National Assembly inspection on this day, Director Lee reaffirmed the media's recent report on the rumor that the head of the National Intelligence Service did not visit the U.S. in March, calling it "obvious misinformation," the ruling and opposition secretaries of the Intelligence Committee said.
Previously, the National Intelligence Service strongly denied media reports that 'Director Lee sought to visit the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), an intelligence agency under the U.S. Department of War (Department of Defense), and meet with its intelligence chief in March of this year, but the U.S. side rejected it.'
In his response to the National Assembly inspection, Director Lee responded, “It is not that I was refused a visit to the United States, but that I was going to an event to which I had been invited, but when the war with Iran broke out at the time, I asked for understanding from the inviter and did not visit, considering the external circumstances.”
In addition, regarding some reports that 'the National Intelligence Service submitted data on information exchange between Korea and the United States while requesting corrections from a specific media company to the Press Arbitration Commission', it is said to have refuted the report, saying, "It is a false report that is completely different from the facts," and "That data cannot be submitted due to security regulations."
Director Lee also responded to reports that U.S. Ambassador to Korea Michelle Steel and others did not attend the recent event commemorating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the ROK-U.S. Visual Intelligence Service held at the National Intelligence Service, explaining, "There has been no official invitation. The event was held under the 3rd Deputy Director, and this was discussed at the level of ideas at the working level, but I have not approved the list."
Meanwhile, Director Lee responded to the recent withholding of U.S. visas for ruling party figures, including former Democratic Party leader Jeong Cheong-rae, a member of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, and Democratic Party Rep. Jin Seong-jun, chairman of the National Assembly Defense Committee, saying, "This is not because of conflict between Korea and the United States, but because the entry process is difficult according to U.S. policy, nothing more or less than that."
Director Lee added, “The U.S. entry process has become more complicated around the world, and it is not just our problem or an issue between Korea and the U.S.” He added, “I understand that this is a decision made by the Department of Homeland Security and not something that will be resolved through the U.S. State Department.”
