US restricts intel on North Korea over Seoul’s reports

The United States has partly restricted the sharing of satellite intelligence on North Korea with South Korea due to recent remarks by Seoul’s unification minister about one of Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities, reports stated on Tuesday.

Chung Dong-young said at South Korea’s parliament in March that North Korea was suspected to operate a site for enriching uranium, a key step in making a nuclear bomb, in the northwestern Kusong region.

According to reports from the South’s Yonhap news agency, Washington lodged protests over Chung’s comments by saying that they disclosed sensitive information from US intelligence without authorisation.

The reports stated that it has limited some satellite information on the North, which Seoul previously received routinely.

“The restrictions have applied since the beginning of April but do not significantly affect military preparedness," a statement of an unnamed South Korean military official was quoted by Yonhap on Tuesday.

“Intelligence collection and sharing regarding North Korea’s military activities are proceeding normally between South Korean and US authorities, just as before,” the official reportedly mentioned.

Seoul’s unification and defence ministries declined to comment on the reported restrictions. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for confirmation.

North Korea is known to operate uranium enrichment facilities in Yongbyon, located in the northern part of the country, and in Kangson, which is near the capital city of Pyongyang.

Chung has come under pressure from opposition parties over the disclosure and its repercussions for ties with Washington.

He said on Monday that it was deeply regrettable that his remarks had been interpreted as a leak of classified information, insisting that they were based on publicly available information and had been raised at his confirmation hearing in July.

President Lee Jae Myung has defended Chung, stating that “it is a clear fact that the existence of the Kusong facility was already widely known through academic papers and media reports."

“Any claims or actions premised on the assumption that Minister Chung leaked classified information provided by the United States are wrong,” Lee added.

North Korea is subject to multiple United Nations sanctions banning its nuclear weapons development and use of ballistic missile technology, restrictions it has repeatedly flouted.