Rep. Song Young-gil of the Democratic Party of Korea said on the 19th that "the intelligence assets and judgment capabilities of the United States are absolutely not omnipotent." The remarks were interpreted as calling for South Korea's military authorities to establish intelligence sovereignty. Song also serves as the presidential special adviser for peace diplomacy.
He made the comments during a National Assembly Defense Committee audit of Army Headquarters held at Gyeryongdae, saying that "intelligence assets are a critical factor that determines the fate of a nation." Song argued that "the Trump administration's bombing of Iran is understood to have stemmed from the temptations of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and Mossad, and this plunged the United States into a serious crisis," adding that "the United States was swayed by intelligence from Mossad and Netanyahu and made a wrong judgment."
Referring to an incident on Feb. 28, the first day of the U.S. war against Iran, in which U.S. forces mistakenly bombed a girls' elementary school in Iran's Minab area and killed about 100 civilians, he said "the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had provided [targeting] intelligence from 10 years earlier," and pointed out that Washington "failed to grasp the situation properly and committed this stupid criminal act."
Song went on to cite the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, which was used to escalate the Vietnam War, and false intelligence on nuclear and weapons of mass destruction during the 2003 Iraq War, offering sharp criticism. "They deliberately distorted intelligence and invaded," he said. "How many of these stupid mistakes has the United States committed?"
Song said that "the alliance with the United States is also important, but South Korea's national interests absolutely do not align 100% with U.S. interests," adding that "it is non-autonomous that we cannot take an independent posture on our own with the level of intelligence assets we now have."
"Deciding whether to start a war, which determines the fate of the nation, and assessing signs from the enemy must be judged independently by us," he said. "Only when our military has the capability to assess intelligence with its own autonomous assets will we avoid being dragged into war."
Song's remarks come as the United States has been restricting the sharing of some intelligence on North Korea since March, taking issue with comments by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young about a uranium enrichment facility in Kusong, North Korea.