NIS excluded from June meeting with US, Japan over N. Korean cyber threats
National Intelligence Service Director Lee Jong-seok leaves the National Assembly in Seoul after attending a plenary session of the parliamentary committee on intelligence, Sept. 30. Joint Press Corps
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) was left out of a June trilateral meeting with Washington and Tokyo on North Korean cyber threats, the agency effectively acknowledged Thursday.
The exclusion belatedly came to light after a local newspaper reported that the spy agency had been barred from the fifth meeting of the Trilateral Diplomatic Working Group at the request of the U.S. side.
"There had been some misunderstanding several months ago, but it is now a thing of the past," the NIS said, all but acknowledging the report.
"Among states, misunderstandings can happen over different national interests. What matters is how to solve them in a timely manner," it said, adding, "There is no misunderstanding between intelligence authorities of South Korea and the U.S."
"The NIS is working closely with the U.S. side on security matters such as cyber and North Korea," it said.
The trilateral working group held its inaugural meeting in December 2023, following the summit between the leaders at Camp David, Maryland, in August that year, when they agreed to strengthen security cooperation.
The June session is believed to be the first without the NIS. The meeting brought together more than 60 participants from relevant ministries and agencies of the three countries to exchange assessments of North Korea's illicit cyber activities and discuss ways to effectively counter cyber threats.
The U.S. request is believed to have been prompted by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's remarks during a parliamentary session in March that North Korea runs a third uranium enrichment facility in Kusong, alongside in Yongbyon and Kangson.
Chung has said he only shared what was already in the public domain.