South Korea downplays alleged U.S. spying on allies

The South Korean government stressed Tuesday that it was on the same page as the United States and believes a number of leaked Pentagon documents suggesting the United States spied on its allies had been fabricated.

Kim Tae-hyo, Korea’s principal deputy national security adviser, arrives at Incheon International Airport to depart for his five-day trip to Washington on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

The South Korean government said Tuesday that it was on the same page as the United States and believes a number of leaked Pentagon documents suggesting the United States spied on its allies had been fabricated.

"The defense chiefs of the two countries agreed on the fact that a significant number of the documents in question were forged," the presidential office said in a statement, referring to recent reports that U.S. intelligence authorities had been eavesdropping on allied countries, including South Korea.

The presidential office also brushed off concern about potential security breaches on its premises, dismissing them as an "absurd and false suspicion."

"The Yongsan presidential office is a military facility and has established and operated a wiretapping prevention system that is much stronger than that in the past at the Blue House," the office said, referring to concerns that security compromises may have occurred in the process of moving the presidential office to the Defense Ministry compound in Yongsan, central Seoul, last May.

It added that the Yongsan office maintains a tighter and more "integrated security system and dedicated personnel" than at the previous presidential compound.

"Going forward, we will further strengthen the trust and cooperative system between the two countries through an ironclad Korea-U.S. intelligence alliance."

This follows continued controversy after U.S. media reports over the weekend regarding leaked classified Pentagon documents revealed that American intelligence authorities purportedly spied on Korean presidential aides' communications earlier this year regarding the provision of lethal weapons to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held a phone call earlier Tuesday to discuss the leaked Pentagon documents, which have been shared on social media and confirmed that Washington will closely communicate and fully cooperate with Seoul over the issue, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

Kim Tae-hyo, Korea's principal deputy national security adviser, likewise told reporters at Incheon International Airport before departing to Washington on Tuesday that the two countries' defense chiefs agreed that "a great deal of disclosed information was fabricated."

Kim departed for a five-day trip to Washington to finalize preparations for President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the United States later this month for a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden on April 26 as the two countries celebrate the 70th anniversary of their bilateral alliance.

He said the two countries, as an "intelligence alliance," are cooperating closely on information-sharing activities.

"The United States has the world's strongest intelligence agency, and our two countries have been sharing information in almost all areas for 11 months since President Yoon took office and are carrying out important intelligence activities together," Kim said. "It's a great asset for us to be able to use such capabilities and work together with the United States, and I believe that this will be an opportunity to further strengthen the trust between our two countries."

He said that the leaked documents issue "will not be a variable" that can affect the upcoming summit.

The summit is expected to focus on bilateral, regional and global issues, including economic security, military cooperation, North Korea and social and cultural exchanges.

At the end of last month, former National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han, one of the individuals mentioned in the leaked U.S. intelligence documents, abruptly resigned.

"It does appear that, at least in some cases, the information posted online had been altered from what we think would be the original source," U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in a press briefing Monday regarding the leaked documents. "We know that some of them have been doctored."

He didn't confirm which ones.

"U.S. officials have been in touch with relevant allies and partners over the last couple of days at very high levels," Kirby said, without elaborating, when asked if the United States has been in communication with its allies, including South Korea, on the issue.

The United States, including the Department of Defense, is "taking this particular set of disclosures very, very seriously," he added.

Members of a civic group protest outside the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday to condemn the U.S. for its purported eavesdropping on the South Korean government, demanding an apology from the U.S. [YONHAP]

Park Hong-keun, floor leader of the liberal Democratic Party (DP), urged the Yoon government to lodge a complaint with the United States over the alleged eavesdropping and questioned the presidential office's claims that there had been no security breaches.

"Eavesdropping on an ally is an absolutely unacceptable matter," Park said in a DP meeting Tuesday, calling for "action to ensure that this does not happen again."

Yoon's presidential office, in a statement, shot down what it called the DP's attempt to "incite the people" by raising suspicions that the relocation of the presidential office made it more vulnerable to wiretapping, calling it an act that "infringes upon national interests and shakes the Korea-U.S. alliance amid North Korea's incessant provocations and nuclear threats."

A presidential official told reporters Tuesday that before the move, the presidential office, the secretariat and the National Security Office had been scattered in the Blue House compound.

"After the relocation to Yongsan, the president and his staff worked in the same building, so the entire Yongsan building maintains the same level of security as the presidential office," the official said, cautiously playing down the possibility of interception on its premises.

"If there was a wiretapping or eavesdropping issue, it would be a very important matter, but the Korea-U.S. alliance is also a very important issue on a different level," the official continued. "The relationship of trust of our alliance in the larger framework is ironclad, and within that framework, we will take necessary measures while figuring out the facts."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]