SEOUL – South Korea downplayed the importance on Tuesday Secret Pentagon documents leaked via social media as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government tries to deal with the aftermath of what opposition lawmakers call a serious security breach and possible violation of national sovereignty.
The Leaked documents show US spied on top national security officials in Mr. Yoon’s administration. Opposition lawmakers in Seoul accused Washington of “infringing upon the sovereignty” of a key ally, calling the espionage “a super-massive security breach.”
“If it is true that they were spying on us, it is a very disappointing act that undermines the ROK-US alliance, which is based on mutual trust,” said Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. main opposition owner, speaking to foreign countries. media reporters on Tuesday. If that is true, then Washington should also apologize to the Korean people, he added.
Mr. Yoon’s administration has insisted that the scandal will not and should not damage his country’s alliance with the United States. , Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, agreed in a phone call Tuesday morning that “pretty much the documents mentioned are fabricated.”
But South Korean officials will not discuss the information contained in the leaked documents or what exactly they consider fabricated. Hitherto, Leaked documents obtained by The New York Times There are three entries about Korea.
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A document said that the National Security Council of South Korea in early March was grappling with a request from the United States to supply artillery shells to Ukraine. Seoul has never confirmed such a request, although it said it was discussing selling 155 mm artillery shells to Washington on the condition that the US military would be its “end-user”. That stance is designed in part to prevent provocation of Moscow, with which Seoul needs to work to contain an increasingly belligerent North Korea.
Another document shows that senior aides to the president in Seoul were concerned that President Biden would phone Yoon to pressure him into shipping ammunition to Ukraine or artillery shells that South Korea was selling to the United States. Ky will probably arrive in this war-torn country despite being exported. control. The aides also discussed the possibility of selling 330,000 shells to Poland, with Warsaw “referred to as end users” but still sending the ammunition to Ukraine.
Asked if the conversation recorded in the documents was accurate, Kim Tae-hyo, Yoon’s deputy national security adviser, said “No” to reporters at the airport on Wednesday. Three, according to the national news agency Yonhap. Mr. Kim is on his way to Washington to prepare for Mr. Yoon’s summit with Mr. Biden on April 26.
Mr. Yoon’s office would not comment beyond Mr. Kim’s comment. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland emerged as a biggest buyer weapons, agreed to buy South Korean tanks, artillery, missiles and aircraft worth billions of dollars.
A third document shows what looks like a timetable for 330,000 shells in South Korea to be transported by plane to Ukraine or transported from the Korean port of Jinhae to the German port of Nordenham. It is unclear whether the timetable describes a shipment already underway or just planned. The source of the shells could indicate that the US military is transferring its own stockpile in South Korea to Ukraine or that it is buying ammunition from South Korea to help replenish its stockpile.
Senior US officials say the Federal Bureau of Investigation is working to determine the source of the leak. Officials acknowledged that the documents appeared to be legitimate intelligence and operations summaries compiled by the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, using reports from the government’s intelligence community, but at the very least a document that has been modified from the original at some later date. However, the apparent authenticity of the documents is not an indication of their accuracy.
Mr. Yoon’s office confirmed on Tuesday that it has a robust system in place to thwart attempts to spy on its officials. It accused opposition lawmakers of spreading “false, negative suspicions” to garner votes.
“This is an act of self-harm to the national interest, weakening the ROK-U.S. alliance at a time of repeated provocations and nuclear threats from North Korea,” the statement read.
The documents also say North Korea conducted a test on March 1 in preparation for an ICBM test flight. (North Korea launched an ICBM on March 16.) Another document shows a record number of intercontinental ballistic missile launchers that North Korea displayed during a drill. military parade in February is “most likely carrying systems that are not working.”
“North Korea flaunts these dormant systems to present a larger, more capable missile force than they possess and to minimize the risk of damage to their actual missiles,” he said. it writes. Independent analysts have long said that the missiles North Korea displayed during military parades were likely fakes.
The leaked document added that North Korea likely won’t be able to equip all ICBM launchers during the parade with operational missiles capable of hitting the continental United States next year “because of barriers.” testing and resource constraints”.
