(Adnkronos) – The United States has ”reduced” the sharing of satellite information on North Korea with South Korea “since the beginning of this month” due to recent statements by Seoul’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young regarding one of Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities. This was reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap and other local media. The reference is to when, in March, Chung Dong-young told the South Korean Parliament that North Korea is suspected of operating a uranium enrichment site, a crucial phase for the manufacture of a nuclear bomb, in the northwestern region of Kusong.
Washington, a security ally of South Korea, protested after Chung’s statements, claiming they disclosed sensitive US intelligence information without authorization. The limitations decided by Washington ”do not significantly affect military readiness,” a South Korean military official told Yonhap agency on condition of anonymity. “The collection and sharing of information regarding North Korea’s military activities proceed normally between South Korean and US authorities, just as before,” the official added. North Korea is known to operate uranium enrichment facilities in Yongbyon, in the north, and in Kangson, near the capital Pyongyang.
Chung came under pressure from opposition parties due to the revelation and its repercussions on relations with Washington. President Lee Jae Myung defended Chung, writing on X that it is an “undeniable fact” that the existence of the Kusong facility was already widely known through academic publications and press articles. “Any statement or action based on the assumption that Minister Chung disclosed classified information provided by the United States is incorrect,” Lee added.
North Korea is subject to numerous sanctions imposed by the United Nations prohibiting the development of nuclear weapons and the use of ballistic missile technologies. But Pyongyang is showing a “very serious increase” in its ability to produce atomic weapons, said the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi during a visit to Seoul last week. In South Korea, there are approximately 28,500 American soldiers to help Seoul repel military threats from the North.
