Intel-sharing with US 'hardest issue' in bilateral ties, Korean ambassador says

South Korean Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha described the ongoing dispute over intelligence-sharing between Seoul and Washington as "the hardest issue to resolve in Korea-US diplomacy," and suggested the matter could drag on for some time.

Speaking Monday (local time) at a national audit session of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee held at the Korean Embassy in Washington, Kang said intelligence cooperation was "the issue being discussed the most" when asked what the most difficult challenge in the bilateral relationship was.

She added that strategic investment toward the United States — including the Alaska LNG investment project — had been "the hardest part" before the announcement of what she called the No. 1 project.

Kang said the US side raised concerns about intelligence-sharing at a meeting between Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sept. 18, saying there had been "talk of problems with intelligence cooperation." Asked how Seoul had responded to Rubio's concerns, she said she did not believe "the issue has been resolved sufficiently to the extent the US side expects."

However, when asked whether Rubio had raised the question of the future of Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young and National Intelligence Service Director Lee Jong-seok — both at the center of the intelligence-sharing controversy — Kang said she did not recall "any mention of specific individuals."

On the mood in Washington following Jeong's remarks about what he called North Korea's "Gueseong nuclear facility," Kang said the US concern was "about the remarks themselves, not about Minister Jeong personally." She added that Jeong had conveyed an explanation through the usual diplomatic channels, but did not say how US officials had responded.

Jeong had said at a press conference that when the United States raised his March remarks at the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee as a leak of intelligence, he had explained the circumstances to US officials and to the Korean ambassador in Washington.

Responding to opposition party criticism that the fallout from Jeong's remarks had created turbulence in the alliance, Kang said that while the issues were difficult, "the commitment and support for the alliance across the US political establishment runs very deep — the bond, the roots, are something special."

She also said the National Intelligence Service had been continuously working to address the intelligence cooperation issue, and that communication between the two countries' intelligence agencies had been ongoing, with progress made.

Kang acknowledged limits in her access to the White House, saying that while she meets frequently with National Security Council officials and other senior White House figures, high-level consultations were "not happening as much as I would like — to the point where I find it frustrating."

On the handling of the Coupang Inc. dispute — a trade and diplomatic flashpoint between Seoul and Washington — Kang said it was important to show that South Korea was responding to the matter faithfully within its legal framework as a sovereign government. She added that discussions with the United States had covered "much deeper and more varied approaches to resolving the issue."

Asked about the prospects for a North Korea-US summit, Kang said the possibility "always exists, but is hard to put a number on," adding that she was not aware of any concrete progress.

She said President Donald Trump had sent multiple signals of his willingness to engage in dialogue, and that she regularly checks with the Department of State and the NSC on the background behind those signals — but that "there are no concrete signs."

Kang said the most important thing was for North Korea-US talks to open, given that Pyongyang had declared it would no longer treat South Korea as a dialogue partner. She said it was crucial that, as such talks develop, close Korea-US communication would ultimately help channel them into inter-Korean dialogue as well.

On President Lee Jae Myung's call for a "freeze" on North Korea's nuclear capabilities, Kang said she viewed it as "a pragmatic approach — that given the continued advancement of North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities, they must first be frozen."

Meanwhile, independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon asked whether a land mine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone that wounded three South Korean soldiers was a deliberate North Korean attack or an accident. Kang said it was "clearly not an accident," adding that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had determined the mine had not drifted there and that North Korea had unquestionably planted it.

She said that planting a mine implied intent, noting that "any act has a purpose behind it." Asked about Unification Minister Jeong's earlier statement at a National Assembly audit that the explosion could not yet be characterized as an attack, Kang said it was "not my place to add or subtract from what the minister said."