By Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, April 17 (Reuters) – South Korea’s Unification Ministry said on Friday it was unaware of any U.S. protest or curbs on intelligence sharing after a media report said Washington was unhappy about a cabinet minister’s disclosure of a previously unconfirmed North Korean nuclear site.
The ministry said it had explained to the U.S. that Minister Chung Dong-young’s public remarks about a North Korean nuclear facility at Kusong were based on publicly available information, including international research reports, and understood that its explanation had been accepted.
The Dong-A Ilbo reported that the U.S. had conveyed its displeasure to Seoul after Chung said at a parliamentary hearing on March 6 that North Korea had a uranium enrichment facility in Kusong, alongside well-known sites in Yongbyon and Kangson.
The newspaper, citing sources in South Korea and the United States, said Washington had indicated it would partially restrict the sharing of North Korea-related intelligence with Seoul, with Chung’s remarks serving as the trigger amid broader accumulated U.S. frustration over a series of bilateral foreign and security disagreements.
Asked if the United States had restricted the sharing of North Korea-related intelligence with South Korea or planned to, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said: “We do not comment on intelligence matters.”
A Unification Ministry spokesperson said at a press briefing that it had “sufficiently explained the background” on Chung’s remarks after an inquiry from the U.S. Embassy in South Korea and understood “the U.S. side had accepted” the explanation.
In separate comments to Reuters, the ministry said that if there had been any U.S. measures, it did not believe they were directly related to the minister’s comments.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul had no immediate comment.
Chung told the parliamentary committee in March that North Korea had been enriching weapons-grade uranium at Yongbyon, Kangson and Kusong, citing remarks by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi at a board of governors meeting that month.
The IAEA transcript of Grossi’s introductory statement shows he mentioned only facilities at Yongbyon and Kangson, with no reference to Kusong.
(Reporting by Kyu-seok Shim in Seoul; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Ed Davies)
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