(Updates with a statement from the South Korean Presidential Office)
Seoul, Apr 11 South Korean and US defense officials Lee Jong-sup and Lloyd Austin agreed today that Pentagon documents recently leaked to social media revealing that Washington allegedly spied on the South Korean Presidential Office have been falsified.
The claim was made by South Korean Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo, who spoke to the media after the two sides had a phone call and just before Kim took a flight to Washington to prepare for the summit that the presidents of the two countries will hold in two weeks.
“The defense heads of both countries had a phone call and the views of both countries coincided. The two countries have the same opinion that much of the information released has been fabricated,” Kim said.
Shortly after, the Presidential Office itself published a statement that repeats exactly what Kim said and insists that both countries “will strengthen mutual trust and cooperation through a solid alliance in intelligence matters.”
IMPOSSIBLE TO LISTEN
Representatives of the Presidential Office told the Yonhap news agency today that it is impossible to listen to what happens inside these facilities in Seoul, including the underground bunker where the National Security Council (NSC) usually meets.
According to the leaked documents – most of which focus on intelligence extracted from the Russian side in the framework of the Ukrainian War but which also include alleged wiretapping of allies such as South Korea, Israel or Ukraine itself – US intelligence would have spied on a conversation that took place during an NSC meeting.
In that dialogue, then-Presidential Secretary for Foreign Affairs Lee Moon-hee and National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han reportedly discussed Washington’s request for Seoul to supply ammunition believed to be destined for the military. Ukrainian, contravening the South Korean commitment not to provide lethal material to countries in conflict.
Sources consulted by Yonhap said today that the conversation between Lee and Kim did not take place in the Presidential Office and, in fact, probably never took place.
In addition to the fact that the case has come to light just two weeks before South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is due to pay a state visit to the US, the matter has stirred the waters in South Korea after the Yoon himself decided to abruptly move the Presidential Office after winning the May 2022 elections to the area where the Ministry of Defense is located in the Yongsan district of Seoul.
OPPOSITION ACCUSATIONS
The country’s main opposition bloc, the liberal Democratic Party (PD), accused Yoon at the time of moving the office on the advice of a shaman, after both the president and first lady Kim Keon-hee , have been linked to esoteric practices.
Representatives of the PD have pointed to the possibility that during the transfer of the Presidential Office listening devices have been mixed with other equipment, they have urged to verify the alleged espionage and have asked that Yoon’s state visit to the US be reconsidered. .
In the communiqué published today, the Presidential Office replied to these words, assuring that the PD’s allegations are “false and absurd” and that “attack national interests.”
“The Presidential Office in Yongsan is a military installation, and there is an operating system, which is much more robust than the one previously in the Blue House (former presidential headquarters), to prevent eavesdropping,” the text adds, which ensures that the new configuration of the office, “less scattered” than before, allows to maintain a more robust security. EFE
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