Industry ministry denies report of Lutnick's dissatisfaction with spy agency
The industry ministry on Friday formally dismissed a local news report alleging U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had voiced dissatisfaction with South Korea's spy agency during bilateral negotiations on strategic investment projects. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources issued the denial in response to a local newspaper article claiming Lutnick had conveyed Washington's discontent…
The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Resources firmly rejected a recent report that claimed U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressed dissatisfaction with South Korea's spy agency during high-level talks on strategic investments. The ministry asserted, "We clearly state that the claim that Commerce Secretary Lutnick expressed distrust of the NIS to Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan during negotiations on strategic investment projects in the U.S. is not true."
In response, the ministry requested the newspaper to report the information accurately to prevent any unnecessary confusion. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) echoed this denial, stating they had received no reports of Lutnick's alleged remarks. The ongoing diplomatic tension stems from Washington's partial restriction on Seoul's intelligence access to data concerning North Korea-related technologies since April, following the unification minister's disclosure of classified information.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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