The national security advisor of South Korea said on Thursday that the alliance with the United States was not in crisis despite recent tensions, while acknowledging that current tensions with Washington required careful management, according to media reports.
Wi Sung-lac said that security consultations with the United States were affected by a dispute related to the US-listed e-commerce company Coupang Inc, but called for alliance issues to be handled separately from legal issues.
Seoul requested that discussions with the United States on a security agreement be carried out separately from the issues related to the investigation into a data leak at Coupang, after a news article reported that Washington had threatened to suspend talks without legal assurances for Coupang’s president, Kim Bom.
“It is true that this affects security consultations between South Korea and the United States,” said Mr. Wi to reporters in Hanoi, according to Yonhap news agency, adding that Seoul’s position was for the matter to follow its legal course while security talks should continue separately.
Mr. Wi indicated that security consultations had been postponed, but was quoted by Yonhap as stating that Seoul’s position was for the talks to resume as soon as possible.
“The relations between South Korea and the United States are an alliance and a very close relationship, which leads to various issues arising,” Mr. Wi said.
“There may be differences of views, and that is why they need careful coordination.”
Mr. Wi said it would be “exaggerated” to consider the current situation as the result of abnormal tensions accumulated within the alliance.
“An alliance is a very close relationship, but, like a garden, it must be carefully maintained,” he said, according to JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. “We are currently in that kind of process.”
Wi stated that the government did not believe that the Minister of Unification, Chung Dong-young, had disclosed information from American intelligence services when he referred to the North Korean site of Kusong, suspected of uranium enrichment, as reported by Newsis news agency.
Washington seemed to believe that the information he had shared had been leaked, Mr. Wi told the media. However, he clarified that while information about the Kusong site was considered a common secret between South Korea and the United States, Mr. Chung claimed he had never been informed of these details and instead relied on open sources – a view shared by Seoul.
Asked about Wi’s comments regarding Chung, a senior official in the American administration said: “The American government expects all its partners to protect sensitive American information shared through private channels.”
