‘The theory of cracks in the Korea-US alliance’ continues… Blue, watching the situation and considering solutions

As concerns continue in the political world about disharmony between South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities, the Blue House also appears to be considering a response on the 9th.

Since the ROK-US alliance is the foundation of national foreign and security policy, if public distrust in it grows, the government's overall state administration will inevitably suffer a blow.

In fact, recently, the media has been reporting on abnormalities between Korea and the United States.

First, an article was published that the United States refused to participate in the National Intelligence Service's participation in the '5th Working Group Meeting between Korea, the United States, and Japan to Respond to North Korean Cyber ​​Threats' held in Washington, DC last June, and it was also reported that Lee Jong-seok, Director of the National Intelligence Service, failed to visit the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) in March.

Of course, the National Intelligence Service strongly denied this, saying, "Director Lee's plan to visit the NGA did not even exist," but even after that, reports about the conflict between Korea and the United States continue.

On this day, there was a report that U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Rutnick had conveyed his distrust of the National Intelligence Service to Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jeong-kwan, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the National Intelligence Service immediately denied this and began to extinguish the situation.

Apart from the government's active denial of the suspicions, one can also read their expressions of embarrassment at the continued chaotic atmosphere inside.

In a phone call with Yonhap News, a high-ranking ruling party official said, "It is true that various issues are emerging between Korea and the United States, and that those issues are affecting the overall relationship between Korea and the United States. It is not good that the relationship between the two countries is creaking like this."

In particular, he diagnosed, “It is absolutely undesirable for problems to arise in the information field.”

Following the controversy over the United States' measures to restrict information on North Korea, which arose last April surrounding Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's remarks regarding North Korea's uranium enrichment facilities, the remarks are interpreted to have taken into account the noise that arose this time around the National Intelligence Service.

The opposition party is also launching an offensive, narrowing its targets to the Ministry of Unification and the National Intelligence Service.

People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won argued in a recent Facebook post, “President Lee must immediately dismiss Director Lee Jong-seok and Minister Chung Dong-young, who have created fatal holes in national security.”

There is also a sense of concern within the Blue House that this trend may lead to recalling the old conflict structure of the so-called 'allied faction versus independent faction'.

This is because, in some quarters, there is a view that interprets the series of situations as a check and control movement aimed at the ‘independent faction’.

If this trend becomes stronger, there is a risk that internal distrust will grow and the momentum of foreign and security policies will be greatly reduced.

In the end, it is urgent for the Blue House to publicize the health of the ROK-US alliance to prevent the fire from spreading further.

Some are raising the opinion that high-ranking figures, such as National Security Office Director Wi Sung-rak, should visit the United States to find a breakthrough.

In response to this, an official from the ruling party said, "As of now, we know that there are no plans for Director Wei's visit to the United States," but left room for it, saying, "It is true that it is a time when various explorations are necessary."

There are also expectations that the remaining summit schedule in the second half of the year will provide an opportunity for a turnaround.

First, if discussions on North Korea-US dialogue pick up speed around the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit scheduled for next month, cooperation between Korea and the US for this purpose may also gain momentum.

There is also an observation that if a meeting between the leaders of the ROK and the U.S. takes place at the G20 summit held in Miami, USA in December, it will be an opportunity to put to rest the theory of a rift in the ROK-U.S. alliance.