Han Mei Alliance "incompatible" shadow suddenly shrouded in South Korean political arena.
According to a report by Yonhap on October 9th, it was reported that the United States refused to allow the South Korean National Intelligence Agency to attend the fifth trilateral diplomatic meeting on dealing with North Korea's cyber threats held in Washington in June this year. Another report stated that Lee Jong-seok, the director of the National Intelligence Agency, originally planned to visit the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in the United States in March, but ultimately did not make it.
Although the South Korean National Intelligence Agency strongly denied this, claiming that Lee Jong-seok had no plans to visit the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; however, reports of inconsistencies between South Korea and the United States continued to surface.
On October 9th, reports emerged again indicating that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Loeterkner expressed distrust towards South Korea's National Intelligence Agency to South Korean Industry and Trade Minister Kim Jeong-woon. The Ministry of Industry and Trade, along with the National Intelligence Agency, promptly denied these claims, trying to calm the situation.
South Korea's National Intelligence Agency Director Lee Jong-se (centered) Yonhap
Another “rejection” came when Chung Hyun-lee, former chairman of the ruling Democratic Party and a congressman, originally planned to visit the United States from the 11th to the 12th of this month as a member of the Americas Group of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the Korean Parliament. He intended to conduct parliamentary oversight over the Korean Embassy in the US and other diplomatic institutions in the US, and applied for a visa to go to the United States. However, unlike other members of the Americas Group from both political parties and non-partisan groups, Chung Hyun-lee still hadn’t received his visa by the day before.
On October 9th, officials from the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that South Korea and the United States are maintaining close communication and cooperation on various matters, and it is inappropriate to link the visa issues of individual individuals to the overall relations between South Korea and the United States.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea also stated that the relevant US departments keep personal visa applications and their examination results confidential in accordance with domestic laws and procedures. Therefore, it is difficult for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to verify whether the situation is true.
It is reported that Zheng Qinglai led a sit-in demonstration in the official residence of the US ambassador to South Korea in 1989. He was later sentenced for suspected violation of the National Security Law. He visited the United States in 2012, but his visa applications for visits in 2013 and 2014 were rejected.
Regarding this chaotic situation of "continuous external revelations and the active denial by the South Korean government," it has now also caused shock and doubt within the government itself.
According to Yonhap, quoting a senior figure from the ruling camp, there are several issues between South Korea and the United States. These issues are indeed affecting the overall bilateral relations. It is not good for the relationship between the two countries to be so complicated. The figure also pointed out that problems in intelligence matters are by no means ideal.
As concerns over discord between South Korean and US intelligence agencies continue to grow among South Korean politicians, it seems that the South Korean government is considering measures to address this issue.
Some opinions suggest that high-ranking Korean officials, including the Director General of the National Security Council, Wei Shengluo, should seek to visit the United States in order to break the deadlock. However, according to people from the ruling camp, there are currently no plans for Wei Shengluo to visit the United States. Nevertheless, this person said that it is indeed time to explore various solutions. Yonhap believes that this statement implies that the Korean government has not ruled out the possibility of Wei Shengluo visiting the United States.
Furthermore, there have been voices proposing that South Korea should take advantage of this year's remaining international multilateral summits in the latter half of the year to seize opportunities for turning the tide.
