U.S. expects South Korea to comply with decades-old alliance standards in intelligence and counterintelligence fields

Regarding the controversy over intelligence cooperation between South Korea and the United States, the U.S. Donald Trump administration stated that it expects South Korea to comply with the alliance's long-standing standards in the fields of intelligence and counterintelligence.

In response to a written inquiry from Yonhap News on the 9th (local time) about the status of intelligence cooperation between the two countries, a senior U.S. administration official said, "We expect South Korea to comply with the standards of the decades-old alliance between the two countries," and added, "This is especially true with regard to matters related to intelligence and counterintelligence."

While the issue of limited information sharing and disruption of cooperation between the Korean and U.S. authorities has recently emerged, it is interpreted that the Korean side emphasized compliance by setting standards in the field of intelligence and counterintelligence.

This official did not directly comment on what the standards were or whether he believed Korea had violated them.

The United States has restricted the sharing of North Korea-related information with South Korea for over half a year since Unification Minister Chung Dong-young publicly mentioned a uranium enrichment facility in North Korea's North Pyongan Province last March.

The uranium enrichment facility mentioned by Minister Jeong is known to be the location of a North Korean nuclear facility that the United States identified through intelligence assets, and the United States is said to have expressed dissatisfaction with the disclosure of sensitive information and has begun to restrict information sharing.

At the National Assembly audit on the 8th, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Jin Young-seung, regarding whether the U.S. shares key information related to North Korea's nuclear weapons, said, "Some things are limited, but there is no problem with our readiness posture," and added, "It is best for this situation to be resolved quickly."

It was also recently revealed that the South Korean National Intelligence Service was excluded from the Korea-US-Japan working group meeting on responding to North Korean cyber threats held in the US last June at the request of the US.

The National Intelligence Service explained this by saying, "There were some misunderstandings several months ago, but that has already happened."