US warns on intelligence as Seoul tensions deepen

{"text":[[{"start":8.7,"text":"The US has warned that allies should be careful handling shared intelligence following reports that a South Korean official revealed secret information about North Korea’s nuclear programme."}],[{"start":18.35,"text":"South Korean unification minister Chung Dong-young last month disclosed that North Korea was operating a uranium enrichment facility in Kusong in the north-west of the country, in addition to previously known sites at Yongbyon and Kangson."}],[{"start":32.900000000000006,"text":"The ministry said the claim was based on open-source information and think-tank reports, but South Korean media, including state-funded Yonhap, reported that the US had stopped sharing some information because it believed the disclosure was based on satellite imagery that it had shared with Seoul."}],[{"start":49.25000000000001,"text":"Asked if the US was restricting intelligence sharing with Seoul following the disclosure by Chung, a senior US official told the FT: “The US government expects all our partners to safeguard sensitive US information that has been shared in private channels.” "}],[{"start":64.35000000000001,"text":"On Tuesday, an official at the South Korean presidential office said: “I understand that the Unification Minister’s comments have been fully explained to the US side.” The official declined to comment on the sharing of intelligence."}],[{"start":77.85000000000001,"text":"Washington has historically shared intelligence with South Korea about North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. But US officials have also long been concerned about Seoul’s ability to protect classified information."}],[{"start":92.75000000000001,"text":"Relations with South Korea have been under strain in recent months, prompting some to question the solidity of an alliance that has underpinned Seoul’s security since the Korean war of 1950-53."}],[{"start":106.50000000000001,"text":"US President Donald Trump has complained that Seoul has “not helped” with the Iran war even though the American military stations roughly 28,000 troops in South Korea to deter North Korea."}],[{"start":117.65000000000002,"text":"In March, the US removed an unconfirmed number of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) interceptor missiles — an important layer in South Korea’s air defences — for redeployment in the Middle East."}],[{"start":130.8,"text":"One Washington-based official with knowledge of US military affairs said Korea feared abandonment by the US, but that this was “concurrent with a fear that the US is going to entangle Korea in some sort of conflict that it’s not interested in being in . . . It’s like we’re sort of abandoning you and entangling you at the same time”."}],[{"start":149.65,"text":"This is becoming a difficult needle for Seoul to thread.  "}],[{"start":153.05,"text":"“If we refuse to get involved [in a US-led war], we will be left vulnerable when Korea faces a dangerous situation later,” said Kim Tae-woo of the Korea Institute for National Unification, noting the US’s “transactional approach”. "}],[{"start":167.95000000000002,"text":"The removal of some Thaad missiles, first deployed in 2017 in response to advances in North Korea’s ballistic missile programme, stung not least because of the high price paid by Koreans for their stationing.  "}],[{"start":181.55,"text":"Beijing had argued that the system’s radar could also monitor Chinese missile activity and responded with sweeping economic retaliation against South Korea, with conglomerates such as Lotte being forced out of China."}],[{"start":195.15,"text":"There is other evidence of a shifting US approach to Korean defence. "}],[{"start":200.25,"text":"A Pentagon national defence strategy document, released in January, asserted that “South Korea is capable of taking primary responsibility for deterring North Korea with critical but more limited US support”. "}],[{"start":213.2,"text":"Also that same month, under-secretary of defence for policy Elbridge Colby delivered a speech in South Korea that omitted to mention North Korea at all and was focused on China deterrence. "}],[{"start":226.1,"text":"South Korea’s decision not to participate in a trilateral air exercise with the US and Japan in late February also stirred concern in Washington. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":236.65,"text":"A brief stand-off in February between Chinese aircraft and US forces conducting a drill from Osan Air Base in South Korea, flying F-16 fighters over waters close to China’s air-defence identification zone, alarmed some in Seoul."}],[{"start":250.70000000000002,"text":"South Korean officials complained they had not been fully briefed about the US drill in advance. The United States Forces Korea denied local reports that Gen Xavier Brunson had apologised to the defence minister, saying: “We don’t make apologies for maintaining readiness.”"}],[{"start":265.90000000000003,"text":"President Lee Jae Myung, whose party has traditionally been more sceptical of US ties, has said that before his presidency ends in 2030 he wants Seoul to regain wartime operational control of South Korean forces, which has been held by US-led Combined Forces Command since the Korean war. "}],[{"start":283.75000000000006,"text":"“An ironclad ROK-US Alliance is an essential element for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” said Lee while meeting military commanders in March. He added, however: “We must not become overly dependent on it.” "}],[{"start":297.15000000000003,"text":"Mason Richey, professor of international politics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said the two allies were still “mostly on the same page”, but that “Trumpification — the America First approach — has clearly sunk through [to Koreans] as being a likely long-term pathway for the US, which therefore makes the US from South Korea’s perspective less reliable as a partner”."}],[{"start":320.45000000000005,"text":"Even assuming a return to pre-Trump relations, the Washington-based official argues, “the process we’re in right now will lead to greater divergence, potentially greater alliance tension, and a significant erosion of trust”, which would take 12-16 years of “solid alliance consultation and fidelity” to right. "}],[{"start":338.25000000000006,"text":"Additional reporting by Kang Buseong"}],[{"start":349.05,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1776853212_6614.mp3"}