South Korea’s “Lowly Attitude” Each Time an Allegation of U.S. Wiretapping Is Raised: Same Response in 2023 as in 2013

The Citizens’ Solidarity for a Safe Society holds a press conference condemning the U.S. and demanding an apology for wiretapping our government in front of the U.S. Embassy in South Korea on April 11. Han Su-bin

The controversy surrounding the alleged wiretapping of the Office of the President by a U.S. intelligence agency is intensifying, but the South Korean government has been unable to properly verify the facts, not to mention demand an apology. Experts point out that the lowly attitude in diplomacy is the same as ten years ago, when the government failed to express its regret and demand an apology for the alleged wiretapping of the South Korean Embassy in the U.S by Washington.

In June 2013, Edward Snowden, a former employee of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), triggered the wiretapping allegations when he disclosed the broadly conducted secret intelligence gathering activities of the National Security Agency (NSA). His exposé included details about how the U.S. had wiretapped embassies in the U.S. of 38 countries including South Korea.

At the time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, “We accept this as a serious matter,” and said it would take appropriate measures after verifying the facts. But months went by, and the government failed to receive a clear explanation and appropriate actions from the U.S. Four months later, in October 2013, the foreign ministry told the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee in the National Assembly that it was still “discussing” the matter with the U.S.

The following month, the ministry said, “We asked the U.S. government to quickly provide us with an acceptable explanation and actions, and we are currently waiting for an answer.” The government was unable to make any special response to the U.S. The ministry explained that unlike Germany, specific evidence had not emerged, but the ministry came under fire as a foreign ministry that could not even make an official protest.

Unlike the passive attitude of South Korea, other countries that were wiretapped by the U.S., such as Germany, France, Mexico and Brazil, strongly protested and received an apology and a promise that such an incident would not happen again. Germany and Brazil even passed a resolution ensuring the right to protect privacy against illegal surveillance in the United Nations General Assembly.

At the time, when an allegation was raised that the U.S. had wiretapped German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone, she called U.S. President Barack Obama and fiercely protested claiming it was unacceptable for the U.S. to eavesdrop on the conversation of an ally country leader for decades. President Obama answered that the U.S. no longer wiretapped cell phones and that it would not do so in the future either, indirectly acknowledging that they had wiretapped phones in the past. The French foreign minister also said that they could not tolerate the spy activities of the U.S. intelligence agency in a meeting with the U.S. secretary of state and demanded an explanation from the U.S. administration. Mexico defined the U.S. wiretapping as an abuse of trust and demanded the U.S. to punish those responsible. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff canceled her state trip to the U.S. in protest of U.S. espionage activities.

A decade has passed, but the South Korean government looks like it’s actually trying to explain the U.S. wiretapping allegation rather than demand an apology for it.

On April 11, Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo departed for the U.S. to make final preparations for President Yoon Suk-yeol’s state visit to the U.S. at the end of April. At the Incheon International Airport, when reporters asked what position he would convey to the U.S., Kim said, “There is none (to deliver),” and explained, “Someone forged the documents. So the U.S. investigation will take some time.” His words suggested that there were no plans to express regret or demand an apology. When asked if the foreign ministry was going to protest to the U.S. through diplomatic channels Wednesday, a foreign ministry official answered, “From what we know, the U.S. began an investigation related to this matter this morning, and so we expect necessary measures to be taken accordingly.”