The commander of the US military in South Korea, Gen. Xavier Brunson, has raised objections to the South Korean Unification Minister’s recent comments, which allegedly disclosed classified US information about North Korea’s nuclear facility. Minister Chung Dong-young faced criticism for mentioning North Korea’s Kusong region as one of the sites housing uranium enrichment facilities during a parliamentary session last month.
Gen. Brunson expressed his concerns to Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back regarding Minister Chung’s statements, as reported by Rep. Sung Il-jong of the main opposition People Power Party. Rep. Sung called for Minister Chung’s immediate resignation, emphasizing that someone causing a division in the South Korea-US alliance should not hold office.
In response to the controversy, the United States has limited the sharing of intelligence with South Korea related to North Korea’s technology obtained through satellites. Only two regions, Yongbyon and Kangson, have been officially recognized as uranium enrichment sites in North Korea. The unification ministry defended Minister Chung’s comments, stating they were based on publicly available information and not on intelligence shared by Washington.
The South Korean defence ministry refuted Rep. Sung’s assertion of the USFK commander’s protest as untrue. It clarified that it is not customary for a USFK commander to protest against a South Korean defence minister in terms of military diplomacy between the two countries. The ministry emphasized that South Korea and the US maintain regular communication on critical issues and adhere strictly to their military intelligence-sharing agreement.
A USFK official mentioned that there is no official statement on the matter, indicating that the US military has no further comments to provide.
