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| President Yoon Suk Yeol presides over a meeting on promoting cooperation between the central government and local governments at the BEXCO exhibition center in the port city of Busan, 325 kilometers southeast of Seoul, April 6. Yonhap |
The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol made clear Tuesday that suspicions of the U.S. having spied on its internal discussions are "absurd and false."
"The presidential office in Yongsan is a military facility, and a system, which is far stronger than that at Cheong Wa Dae in the past, is in operation to prevent eavesdropping," it said in a statement, referring to the former presidential compound.
It emphasized that the presidential compound maintains "watertight security" through the integrated security system and personnel in charge of it, unlike the Cheong Wa Dae era. After taking office last year, Yoon relocated the presidential office to the central Seoul district of Yongsan from Cheong Wa Dae.
Some lawmakers at the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) have argued that the Yongsan office is more vulnerable to such spying activities than Cheong Wa Dae.
They leveled the criticism against Yoon's office in the wake of news reports, based on purported Pentagon documents, that Washington overheard conversations of top South Korean presidential officials in connection with the issue of helping supply weapons to Ukraine.
"Clearly, the allegations are an absurd, false suspicion," the presidential office said.
The office accused the DPK of trying to incite people with "false, negative suspicions."
"This is a self-harming act that shakes the Korea-U.S. alliance amid North Korea's incessant provocations and nuclear threats, and is also an act of infringing on national interests," the office said.
"There are no borders in the intelligence war. People will make a judgment on the Democratic Party's act of diplomatic self-harming at a critical time when we should strengthen and develop the Korea-U.S. intelligence alliance," it said.
Earlier in the day, presidential aides said the office has concluded that there is little chance of internal discussions having been intercepted by the U.S. intelligence community.
"Now that it's a security issue, we can't open (details of the security system) to the public. But the presidential office is prepared," a presidential official said.
Another official also emphasized, "It is impossible to eavesdrop on conversations inside the building (in Yongsan)."
At the time of the presidential office being relocated to Yongsan, a "very strict standard of security" has been applied, the official added.
They also dismissed the possibility of discussions during a National Security Council (NSC) session held at the underground bunker having been intercepted.
They believe that a reported conversation early last month between Kim Sung-han, then director of national security, and Lee Moon-hee, then presidential secretary for foreign affairs, regarding Seoul's position on whether to supply ammunition to Ukraine was not made inside the presidential building, if ever.
Yoon's office maintains that it is a priority to verify the authenticity of the documents released online and figure out relevant details.
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| Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo speaks during a press briefing at the presidential office in Seoul, March 6. Yonhap |
Meanwhile, the defense chiefs of the allies had phone talks on the sensitive matter and agreed on the assessment that much of the information contained in purported Pentagon documents leaked online was faked, a senior South Korean official told reporters separately.
Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin were on the same page when it comes to the assessment, Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said, as he headed to Washington, D.C., for consultations to prepare for an upcoming state visit there by Yoon for a summit with President Joe Biden.
"The two countries have the same view that a great deal of disclosed information was fabricated," Kim said. (Yonhap)
