Joseph Yun, the acting U.S. ambassador to Seoul, speaks at a business forum hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea in Seoul, March 18. Yonhap
Joseph Yun, the acting U.S. ambassador to Seoul, speaks at a business forum hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea in Seoul, March 18. Yonhap
The designation of Korea as a sensitive country by the United States was due to "mishandling of sensitive information" during exchanges between science research institutions under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the acting American ambassador to Seoul said Tuesday, calling it "not a big deal."
According to the DOE last week, Korea was placed in the "lowest" category of the department's "sensitive and other designated countries list" (SCL) in early January.
The designation made recent headlines in Korea, as it was made during the final weeks of former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration and shortly after President Yoon Suk Yeol imposed martial law in December.
Some observers in Seoul had speculated that the decision may have been influenced by recent discussions in Korea's political circles calling for Seoul's nuclear armament.
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Joseph Yun, the acting U.S. ambassador to Seoul, suggested that the DOE listing was not a serious matter affecting bilateral relations, saying "this whole thing got out of control" and the matter was "not a big deal."
"And I've been trying to find out exactly what it is. Essentially the sensitive country list is confined to DOE laboratories. As you know, the DOE has a number of laboratories," Yun said at a business conference hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM).
According to Yun, there were over 2,000 Korean students, researchers and government workers visiting these laboratories last year, some of which have sensitive material.
The acting ambassador explained that Seoul was put on the DOE list due to "some mishandling of sensitive information" that should not be taken out of laboratories, but stopped short of elaborating further.
Yun said the DOE list issue was something he had "never heard of" before and only found out a few days ago himself.
In addition, the acting ambassador highlighted that Korea and the U.S. agreed to cooperate as a tier 1 country in fields of advanced science, and stressed that suggesting the listing as having implications in practical research cooperation was wrong.
On Monday, Seoul's foreign ministry said Korea's placement on the SCL was because of security issues related to DOE-affiliated research institutions rather than a broad foreign policy decision.
The U.S. government is said to have told the ministry that Korea's SCL inclusion was imposed due to violations of security regulations during Korean researchers' visits to DOE laboratories or participation in joint research projects. (Yonhap)