On Tuesday, Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, criticized Unification Minister Chung Dong-young for claiming that a report from the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) included information about North Korea’s nuclear facilities, calling it fake news once again.
Jang shared an article on Facebook containing a rebuttal from Victor Cha, the Korea Chair at CSIS, regarding Chung’s claims.
Previously, on March 6, Chung had stated during a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee meeting that Kusong city in North Pyongan Province was the location of North Korea’s third uranium enrichment facility. In response, U.S. officials reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with Chung’s remarks and suspended sharing some North Korea-related intelligence they had regularly provided.
As the controversy grew, Jung met with reporters at the Government Complex Seoul the day before, stating that he merely explained policy based on publicly available information. He added that nuclear development activities in North Korea’s Kusong area have been repeatedly discussed since the 2016 ISIS report and domestic KBS coverage, up to last year’s CSIS report.
However, Cha refuted this on X (formerly Twitter), asserting that CSIS has never produced a report on Kusong’s nuclear facilities.
In response, Jang commented that CSIS claims they’ve never posted such information. Where did Minister Chung hear that?
He also challenged President Lee Jae Myung’s statement on X, which claimed that the existence of nuclear facilities in Guseong was already widely known through various papers and media reports before Jung’s comments. Jang questioned, What does President Lee believe?
Jang added that the U.S. Forces Korea commander reportedly complained to Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back. The U.S. Embassy’s information officer also strongly protested to the National Intelligence Service. He emphasized that the crisis in the U.S.-South Korea alliance is not theoretical but real.
He concluded that the fabricated charges are the real theory. Even if Kim Jong Un turns a blind eye, dropping the indictment is off the table. They should stop chasing shadows.