Apparently based on internal talks among top South Korean security officials, the material in the allegedly stolen U.S. classified paper was deemed "untrue" and "altered" by South Korea on Tuesday.
A diplomatic dispute between the United States and some allies resulted from several documents that were recently uploaded on social media and provided a partial, month-old image of the situation in Ukraine.
One of the documents detailed internal discussions between South Korean officials about American pressure on Seoul to assist in providing weapons to Ukraine, raising the possibility that the United States may have been spying on South Korea, one of its most important allies, and drawing criticism from the Asian country's lawmakers.
Yoon Suk Yeol's office issued a statement claiming that any allegations that his office in Seoul was being watched were "completely false" and that any efforts to sever South Korea's ties with the United States would be "compromising national interest."
Both the US Secretary of Defense and his South Korean counterpart agreed over the phone on Tuesday that much of the information in the document about South Korea was false, according to Yoon's office.
It did not specify what specific information in the document was false.
The Pentagon chief talked about recent media reports on the leak and promised to carefully cooperate with South Korea on the matter during the phone conversation that took place at Austin's request, according to the South Korean defense ministry.
The information was revealed just a few weeks before Yoon's meeting with Joe Biden, who would be in Washington on April 26.
On Monday, some Democratic Party MPs from South Korea's largest opposition party voiced "strong regret" over the suspected spying, describing it as a blatant breach of national sovereignty and a significant security blunder by the Yoon administration.
As he left for Washington in preparation for Yoon's visit, Kim Tae-hyo, South Korea's deputy national security adviser, declared that the most recent incident will not have an effect on South Korea's alliance with the United States.
"The U.S. is the country with the world's best intelligence capabilities and since (Yoon's) inauguration we have shared intelligence in almost every sector," Kim told reporters.
According to the paper, which doesn't appear to have a date, South Korea had agreed to send artillery shells to the United States in order to help it restock its stocks. South Korea insisted that the "end user" should be the American military. However, senior South Korean officials were concerned internally that the US would send them to Ukraine.
According to South Korea, sending weapons to a country at war is against the law, hence it cannot deliver weapons to Ukraine.
The validity of the documents has not been independently confirmed by Reuters. According to U.S. authorities, some figures of casualties on the battlefield from Ukraine looked to have been changed to understate Russian losses.
(Source:www.thestraitstimes.com)
A diplomatic dispute between the United States and some allies resulted from several documents that were recently uploaded on social media and provided a partial, month-old image of the situation in Ukraine.
One of the documents detailed internal discussions between South Korean officials about American pressure on Seoul to assist in providing weapons to Ukraine, raising the possibility that the United States may have been spying on South Korea, one of its most important allies, and drawing criticism from the Asian country's lawmakers.
Yoon Suk Yeol's office issued a statement claiming that any allegations that his office in Seoul was being watched were "completely false" and that any efforts to sever South Korea's ties with the United States would be "compromising national interest."
Both the US Secretary of Defense and his South Korean counterpart agreed over the phone on Tuesday that much of the information in the document about South Korea was false, according to Yoon's office.
It did not specify what specific information in the document was false.
The Pentagon chief talked about recent media reports on the leak and promised to carefully cooperate with South Korea on the matter during the phone conversation that took place at Austin's request, according to the South Korean defense ministry.
The information was revealed just a few weeks before Yoon's meeting with Joe Biden, who would be in Washington on April 26.
On Monday, some Democratic Party MPs from South Korea's largest opposition party voiced "strong regret" over the suspected spying, describing it as a blatant breach of national sovereignty and a significant security blunder by the Yoon administration.
As he left for Washington in preparation for Yoon's visit, Kim Tae-hyo, South Korea's deputy national security adviser, declared that the most recent incident will not have an effect on South Korea's alliance with the United States.
"The U.S. is the country with the world's best intelligence capabilities and since (Yoon's) inauguration we have shared intelligence in almost every sector," Kim told reporters.
According to the paper, which doesn't appear to have a date, South Korea had agreed to send artillery shells to the United States in order to help it restock its stocks. South Korea insisted that the "end user" should be the American military. However, senior South Korean officials were concerned internally that the US would send them to Ukraine.
According to South Korea, sending weapons to a country at war is against the law, hence it cannot deliver weapons to Ukraine.
The validity of the documents has not been independently confirmed by Reuters. According to U.S. authorities, some figures of casualties on the battlefield from Ukraine looked to have been changed to understate Russian losses.
(Source:www.thestraitstimes.com)
