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* Security talks delayed by Coupang probe, but Seoul calls for separating alliance issues
* Wi Sung-lac states alliance not in crisis and calls for careful management of differences
* Seoul denies Unification Minister leaked American intelligence on a North Korean site
(Addition of US response in paragraph 12)
South Korea’s national security adviser said Thursday that the alliance with the United States was not in crisis despite recent frictions, but acknowledged that current tensions with Washington required careful management, according to media reports.
Wi Sung-lac said security consultations with the United States were affected by a dispute involving the US-listed e-commerce company Coupang Inc, CPNG.N, but called for alliance issues to be handled separately from legal matters.
Seoul requested that discussions with the United States on a security agreement be conducted separately from matters related to the investigation into a data leak at Coupang, after a press article reported that Washington had threatened to suspend talks without legal assurances for Coupang President Kim Bom.
“It is true that this affects security consultations between South Korea and the United States,” Mr. Wi told reporters in Hanoi, according to Yonhap news agency, adding that Seoul’s position was for the matter to follow its legal course while security talks should proceed separately.
Mr. Wi indicated that security consultations had been postponed, but was cited by Yonhap as saying Seoul’s stance was for talks to resume as soon as possible.
“The relationship between South Korea and the United States is an alliance and a very close relationship, which raises various questions,” Mr. Wi said.
“There may be differences of opinion, and that is why they must be carefully coordinated.”
Mr. Wi said it would be “excessive” to view the current situation as the result of abnormal tensions accumulated within the alliance.
“An alliance is a very close relationship, but, like a garden, it must be carefully tended,” he said, according to the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. “We are currently in that kind of process.”
Wi stated that the government did not believe that Unification Minister Chung Dong-young leaked information from American intelligence services when he referenced the North Korean site in Kusong suspected of uranium enrichment, as reported by Newsis news agency.
Washington seemed to believe that the information he shared had been leaked, Mr. Wi told the media. However, he clarified that while information about the Kusong site was considered a common secret between South Korea and the United States, Mr. Chung claimed he was never informed of these details and rather relied on open sources – a view shared by Seoul.
Asked about Wi’s comments regarding Chung, a senior official in the US administration said: “The US government expects all its partners to protect sensitive American information shared through private channels.”
