South Korea says US raised intelligence cooperation concerns

South Korea's ambassador to the United States said Washington had raised concerns about intelligence cooperation between the allies and that Seoul had not yet fully addressed US expectations, the Yonhap news agency reported on Oct 13.



Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha told a South Korean parliamentary audit in Washington that intelligence sharing was the most difficult issue in bilateral relations, according to Yonhap.



US Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised the matter during talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun last month, Kang said.



Kang did not detail Washington's concerns, but said communication between the two countries' intelligence agencies was continuing and had made progress.



The ambassador also said access to senior White House officials had been limited, according to the report.



South Korean media have reported that Washington asked that Seoul's National Intelligence Service be excluded from a June meeting with US and Japanese officials on North Korean cyber threats.



Seoul's spy agency said the matter reflected a past misunderstanding and had been resolved, acknowledging restrictions on some intelligence connected to the earlier dispute but denying reports that the US had reduced sharing of North Korean missile information or cut the overall flow of intelligence.