Yongsan Grapples for Solution Amid Talk of Cracks in US-South Korea Alliance

The presidential office is reportedly struggling to come up with countermeasures to prevent perceptions of a 'crack in the alliance' from spreading, as reports of discord between South Korean and US intelligence authorities continued on the 9th.

The reports of discord have followed multiple threads. An article emerged saying the United States refused the participation of South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) at the fifth trilateral working group meeting of South Korea, the US, and Japan on North Korea's cyber threats, held in Washington DC last June. This was followed by a report that NIS Director Lee Jong-seok's planned visit to the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in March fell through. The NIS denied it, saying 'no plan for the director's NGA visit ever existed,' but the noise has not died down. The situation comes on top of the controversy over US restrictions on sharing North Korea-related intelligence, sparked by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's remarks last April about a North Korean uranium enrichment facility under construction.

The opposition is focusing its attacks on the Unification Ministry and the NIS. Rep. Na Kyung-won of the People Power Party recently argued in a Facebook post that 'the president must immediately dismiss NIS Director Lee Jong-seok and Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who have dealt a fatal blow to national security.'

Some have suggested a breakthrough through a visit to the US by high-ranking officials, including National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac. However, a ruling-party official said Wi currently has no plans to visit the US.

There are observations that the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit scheduled for next month and the Group of 20 (G20) summit to be held in Miami in December could serve as opportunities to turn around South Korea-US relations.