[News Today] ‘SENSITIVE COUNTRY’ DESIGNATION

[LEAD]
It has been officially confirmed that South Korea has been added to the U.S. list of sensitive countries, sparking quite a bit of a stir. It's come to light that the South Korean government failed to properly recognize this for two months.

[REPORT]
Until recently, the foreign ministry was unaware of South Korea's designation as a "sensitive country"

Hong Kee-won/ Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee (DP)
So you think the Department of Energy is still considering the designation?

Cho Tae-yul / Minister of Foreign affairs
We are assessing the situation based on unofficial information we've received.

The U.S. Department of Energy added South Korea to the list back in January, but it had not been confirmed officially for two months.

Prof. Park Won-gon / Ewha Womans Univ.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has communication channels with the State
Department but it's not easy to communicate with the Department of Energy.

With the U.S. in a leadership transition and Korea in an impeachment crisis, information sharing was likely difficult.

So why has Korea been designated as a "sensitive country?"

The DOE designates countries as sensitive for "nuclear proliferation" and "terrorism support." Some analysts say this stems from domestic political calls for South Korea's own nuclear armament.

Lee Chun-geun / Institute of Science Technology Evaluation, Planning
At first nuclear armament was brought up by scientists, then by politicians. The designation appears to be general warning over nonproliferation concerns.

Seoul says it's unclear yet what kind of restrictions the country will be faced with following the designation.

The foreign ministry says it's viewing the matter seriously and discussing it closely with relevant U.S. government agencies.

The list of Sensitive and Other Designated countries is to take effect in a month.

There are calls to form a joint government task force to address the issue. But there are concerns over Seoul's negotiating power in the aftermath of emergency martial law.

■ 제보하기
▷ 전화 : 02-781-1234, 4444
▷ 이메일 : kbs1234@kbs.co.kr
▷ 카카오톡 : 'KBS제보' 검색, 채널 추가
▷ 카카오 '마이뷰', 유튜브에서 KBS뉴스를 구독해주세요!

KBS