Seoul: The commander of the U.S. military stationed in South Korea, Gen. Xavier Brunson, has lodged a protest against Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's recent remarks that allegedly leaked classified U.S. information about North Korea's nuclear facility, a lawmaker said Tuesday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Unification Minister Chung has come under fire for referring to the North's Kusong region as one of the sites hosting the country's uranium enrichment facilities during a parliamentary session last month. Gen. Brunson recently expressed his concerns to Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back regarding Chung's remarks, as stated by Rep. Sung Il-jong of the main opposition People Power Party, who chairs the parliamentary national defense committee.
Rep. Sung urged for the resignation of Minister Chung, stating, "Minister Chung should step down immediately," and argued that a minister causing such a rift in the South Korea-U.S. alliance should not remain in office. Following the controversy, the United States has partially restricted the sharing of intelligence with South Korea involving North Korea-related technology collected through satellites, military officials previously reported.
Currently, only two regions, Yongbyon and Kangson, are officially recognized as uranium enrichment sites in North Korea. The unification ministry has defended Chung's remarks, claiming they were based on "open information," and rejected assertions that they were derived from intelligence shared by Washington. Meanwhile, the defense ministry has refuted Rep. Sung's assertion of the USFK commander's protest, labeling it as "not true."
The ministry emphasized that it is inappropriate for a USFK commander to protest against a South Korean defense minister in terms of South Korea-U.S. military diplomacy, and reiterated that the claim is untrue. They highlighted that South Korea and the U.S. maintain regular communication on key issues and are "thoroughly" abiding by the military intelligence-sharing pact between the two countries, without disclosing further details.
A USFK official stated there is no official comment on the issue, noting that the U.S. military has "nothing to add."