Intelligence leak on U.S. spying on allies

A controversial leak was reported covering confidential documents that allegedly prove that U.S. intelligence authorities spied on its allies including South Korea. Some of the leaked documents involve its allies’ intelligence gathering without prior permission regarding internal discussions within South Korean government officials on U.S. requests for the provision of weapons during the War in Ukraine. Critics project that it will have an immense ripple effect if the allegations about the U.S. eavesdropping on its allies turned out to be true, given that Washington has emphasized strengthening the alliance, keeping China and Russia in check.

Around 100 classified documents written by U.S. intelligence authorities were leaked on social media, reported The New York Times on Saturday (local time). Reportedly, the documents cover confidential details on the U.S. arms provided to Ukraine, Russian military mission plans, Ukraine war-related intelligence, and CIA daily reports regarding observations on allies.

At least two of these documents involve the eavesdropping on high-ranking foreign affairs and security officials of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration regarding Washington’s requests for providing weapons to Ukraine, said The New York Times. In particular, one of the two is reported to show that Seoul is concerned about U.S. President Joe Biden possibly pressing President Yoon Suk-yeol to assist Ukraine on the phone. It was reported that the document argued that the details were produced by intelligence-gathering by interception of signals via phone calls and messages.

The Washington Post also reported that the documents were written based on signal intelligence. It also wrote that the leaked materials argued that South Korea’s national security adviser proposed to sell munitions to Poland as Washington sought to assist Ukraine quickly.

The U.S. Department of Defense asked the FBI and the Department of Justice to launch an investigation. The documents were reported to have been submitted to U.S. military leadership including the defense secretary. The NYT pointed out that the intelligence leak highlights U.S. espionage on not only Russia but also allies, possibly doing harm to its diplomatic relationship with them.


weappon@donga.com