Reports of discord between South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies mount as presidential office weighs response

[Financial News] With reports of unusual tensions between South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies emerging one after another, Cheong Wa Dae is watching to see whether the fallout will spread. Government ministries denied the reports as untrue on the 10th, but political sparring continues, and concerns about the South Korea-U.S. alliance appear to be growing.
Reports recently emerged that the United States had refused to allow the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to participate in a South Korea-U.S.-Japan working-level meeting on responding to North Korean cyber threats, held in Washington, D.C., last June. Reports also said that efforts to arrange a visit by NIS Director Lee Jong-seok to the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) had fallen through. The NIS denied that there had ever been a plan for Lee to visit the NGA.
Reports also emerged that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had conveyed distrust of the NIS to Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the NIS immediately denied the reports as untrue.
The opposition has continued its offensive, citing controversy over restrictions on intelligence about North Korea, which arose after Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's remarks about a North Korean uranium enrichment facility, as well as reports related to the NIS. People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won called for the dismissal of NIS Director Lee Jong-seok and Minister Chung.
The presidential office may use future summit diplomacy engagements as an opportunity to reaffirm coordination between South Korea and the United States. Observers say next month's APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting (APEC Summit) and the G20 Summit, to be held in Miami, U.S., in December, could provide such an opportunity. A visit to the United States by Wi Sung-lac, director of the National Security Office, is reportedly not currently planned.
[email protected] Lee Jeong-hwa Reporter