National Intelligence Service "Intelligence cooperation in various fields with the U.S.... Information on North Korea provided by the U.S. will not decrease"

On the 11th, the National Intelligence Service denied a report that the United States was restricting the sharing of information on North Korea with the South Korean government except for North Korean missiles.

In a statement distributed to the media this morning, the National Intelligence Service said, "The report that 'only information on North Korea's missiles is currently being provided due to U.S. information sharing restrictions' is completely untrue."

The National Intelligence Service said, “We once again make it clear that information cooperation between South Korea and the United States is actively taking place in various fields, including North Korean missiles and conventional forces, North Korean trends, international relations, cyber, and counterintelligence, in addition to some of the information that is the reason for the ‘information sharing restriction’ already confirmed by the government.”

It has been reported that the United States has restricted the sharing of information on North Korea, including related to North Korean nuclear facilities, in protest of Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's remarks in March regarding "North Korea's uranium enrichment facilities," but the explanation is that the rest of the information is being shared except this.

The National Intelligence Service also responded to reports that 'the total amount of information on North Korea provided by the United States has decreased', saying, "This is not true. Despite the restrictions on information sharing in certain areas mentioned above, the total amount of information provided by the United States has not decreased," and emphasized, "Intelligence sharing between Korea and the United States is mutually beneficial in many areas."

In response to the same report, the Ministry of National Defense also explained in a statement distributed to the media the night before that the report was different from the facts.

The Ministry of National Defense stated, "There are no restrictions on information sharing between South Korea and the United States to maintain a solid military readiness posture against North Korea. Some information that is restricted from sharing is sufficiently supplemented through the military's significantly improved independent intelligence capabilities."