South Korea's Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service have both said there are no problems with intelligence sharing with the United States, but there appears to be no clear path to restoring trust between the two countries over what officials describe as "partially restricted information." With Washington's frustration also mounting over delays in Korean investment in the U.S., concerns are growing that cooperation on shipbuilding, nuclear energy and nuclear-powered submarines will not proceed smoothly.
In a statement on the 11th, the NIS said reports that "only North Korean missile intelligence is currently being provided because of U.S. restrictions on intelligence sharing" were entirely untrue. The agency added that it wanted to make clear once again that, apart from some of the intelligence that the government has already confirmed falls under the "intelligence-sharing restriction," active cooperation continues between Seoul and Washington across a range of areas including North Korean missiles and conventional forces, developments inside North Korea, international relations, cyber issues and counterintelligence.
The Defense Ministry had taken a similar position the previous night, saying there were no restrictions on intelligence sharing between the two countries for the purpose of maintaining a firm military readiness posture against North Korea. It said intelligence that is partially restricted is being sufficiently supplemented through the military's own significantly improved intelligence capabilities.
The "partially restricted information" cited by the NIS and the Defense Ministry is understood to refer to core intelligence on North Korea's nuclear program mentioned by Jin Young-seung, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a parliamentary audit on the 8th. Asked by People Power Party lawmaker Sung Il-jong whether core North Korean nuclear intelligence was being shared with the United States, Jin said there were some limited areas but that this posed no problem for the military's readiness posture. He added that it was not the case that information on matters such as imminent indications related to North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles was going unshared.
The United States is reported to have suspended some intelligence sharing on North Korea in March, treating as a leak of classified bilateral information a public remark by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young that "an undisclosed North Korean uranium enrichment facility is located in Kusong, North Pyongan Province." As a result, sensitive military intelligence such as information on North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles continues to be shared without disruption for the sake of a joint response, but sharing of some other intelligence, such as analysis of satellite imagery of North Korea, has reportedly been disrupted.
Opposition politicians have called for Chung and NIS Director Lee Jong-seok to be dismissed, saying they should be held accountable. People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk pointed to the U.S. restrictions on North Korea intelligence and the denial of U.S. visas to Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Chung-rae and NIS employees, saying cracks in the Korea-U.S. alliance were being confirmed in many places. He argued that Chung and Lee were at the heart of the rupture in relations between the two countries.
Beyond Chung's remarks, the fact that investment in the United States — a follow-up measure from the Korea-U.S. summit — took more than 10 months to begin is also cited as a factor deepening U.S. frustration. After difficult negotiations, construction of a combined-cycle gas-fired power plant in Encinal, Texas, was chosen as the first project under the investment pledge. But President Donald Trump is also pressing the Korean government over an Alaska liquefied natural gas development project that the two sides had agreed only to "review."
With sources of friction accumulating unresolved, there are concerns that cooperation issues already stalled for a considerable period — including shipbuilding, rights to uranium enrichment and reprocessing, and the construction of nuclear-powered submarines — will continue to be pushed down the priority list. One diplomatic source said the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, which handled the investment negotiations, must have faced enormous pressure from the possibility that officials could be punished under the next administration if they failed to put proper safeguards in place. The source said that was why the investment was delayed, and that relations between the two countries deteriorated considerably in the meantime.
Along the way, various issues involving Coupang and security matters became entangled as well, perpetuating a vicious cycle, the source said. The source also voiced concern that while the outcome of the U.S. midterm elections would have some effect on Korea-U.S. relations, there would be no major change in leadership centered on Trump.