Unification minister calls U.S. curb on intelligence sharing over remark about North’s nuclear site ‘wrong’

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young brushed off mounting calls for his dismissal on Monday, saying Washington was "wrong" to curb intelligence sharing with Seoul over his remarks on a North Korean nuclear site.

“So the United States got it wrong; it missed my July remark,” Chung told reporters at a press briefing arranged on short notice at the government complex in central Seoul, referring to his confirmation hearing in July of last year, where he had mentioned the site as a lawmaker.

The dispute dates to March 6, when Chung told the National Assembly that the North runs a uranium enrichment facility in Kusong, North Pyongan Province, in addition to the known sites at Yongbyon and Kangson.

Washington considered the remark an unauthorized disclosure of U.S. intelligence and proceeded to scale back some of the intelligence on North Korea it routinely shared with Seoul.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jin Young-seung confirmed at a parliamentary audit on Thursday that some key U.S. intelligence on North Korea’s nuclear program is being restricted, though he said military readiness is unaffected. Washington has not publicly linked the curbs to Chung’s remark.

Calls for the minister's dismissal intensified last week after reports that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had been excluded from a South Korea-U.S.-Japan meeting on North Korean cyberthreats in June. On Monday, main opposition People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok said the alliance is “virtually on the verge of collapse” and demanded that Chung and NIS Director Lee Jong-seok be replaced.

Chung insists that the fact that he raised Kusong at his confirmation hearing on July 14, 2025, as a Democratic Party lawmaker is being overlooked.

“If the United States had known about the July remark, it would have asked why I said that as a lawmaker,” Chung said during the press briefing. “Then that would not be a problem for the government.”

Chung said he told a visiting U.S. assistant secretary of state to “hold the lawmaker responsible” instead of the government, referring to himself. He also said he asked Kang Kyung-wha, Seoul's ambassador to the United States, to explain the matter to Washington.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said later in the day that "nothing has been received from the U.S. side" on the matter. The official added that Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has said Chung's remark was based on research institute materials, not U.S. intelligence.

Chung dismissed claims of fissures in the alliance.

“Among countries allied with the United States, there is none that isn’t in a tug-of-war over security and trade,” the minister said.

“An alliance shares values, but its interests may be the same or may conflict," he added. "There is nothing wrong with the South Korea-U.S. alliance at all.”

He noted that President Lee Jae Myung has met U.S. President Donald Trump four times in about a year — at summits in Gyeongju and New York and on the sidelines of the Group of 7 and NATO summits — and that the two could play golf in December.

“Do you call such a relationship a broken alliance?” he asked, adding that “the amplifier is the problem” behind reports of friction.

Chung also defended his comments on the Sept. 21 land mine blast in the demilitarized zone, which injured three South Korean soldiers.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) concluded on Oct. 5 that North Korea had deliberately planted the mines about 10 meters (33 feet) south of the military demarcation line (MDL) in violation of the 1953 Armistice Agreement.

At a parliamentary audit on Wednesday, Chung said the blast could not yet be defined as a North Korean attack.

The next day, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, cited him in a statement dismissing Seoul’s findings as a “self-staged farce.” A North Korean diplomat also cited him at the UN.

Chung said the root cause is that the South Korean military, the UNC and North Korea each use a different version of the MDL.

“There are currently three MDLs — the UN Command’s, ours and the North’s — and aligning them is what will prevent accidents in the future,” he said.

He distinguished the case from the 2015 wooden-box mine attack, when North Korean troops crossed the MDL and planted mines about 440 meters south of the line.

“That can be seen as a mine attack,” he said.

Chung disagreed that Pyongyang had exploited his remarks.

He also rejected describing Seoul’s plan to ship medical equipment to the North, which Kim Yo-jong mocked last week, as aid.

“‘Aid’ is talk of the old days,” he said, adding that Seoul had “put together a health and medical cooperation package.”

BY SEO JI-EUN   [[email protected]]