On the 20th, President Lee Jae-myung pushed back, calling the existence of the Guseong nuclear facilities a clear fact that has long been reported worldwide in academic papers and the press. He stepped in personally to tamp down the growing controversy over Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young’s comments about the facilities.
That afternoon, he posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Any claims or actions that assume Minister Jeong leaked classified information provided by the United States are wrong.”
In the post, he shared an article reporting that, after Minister Jeong’s remarks, some intelligence sharing between Seoul and Washington had been partially suspended and opposition parties were calling for the minister’s removal.
He added, “I need to look into why this absurd situation is unfolding.”
Minister Jeong also pushed back that afternoon at the Seoul Government Complex, telling reporters, “I suspect there’s an ulterior motive behind suddenly raising this issue.”
But when asked whether the party that raised the issue was the opposition or the United States, he said, “I don’t know,” and declined to offer specifics.
Earlier, on the 6th of last month, Minister Jeong appeared before the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee and, in addition to the previously known uranium enrichment sites at Yongbyon in North Pyongan and Kangsŏn in Nampo, mentioned Guseong in North Pyongan.
Critics said this was the first time a senior government official had publicly disclosed a “third” location.
Subsequently, reports said the United States, in protest, had partially restricted the satellite intelligence it had been sharing with the South Korean government.
