Leaked Pentagon documents reveal South Korea’s turmoil over sending arms to Ukraine

Leaked Pentagon documents regarding Ukraine and several other countries have been making news across the world. The latest revelation made by the documents tells how the United States has been spying on South Korea and divulges information about Seoul’s stand on the Ukraine war. The leaked documents carry information about a sensitive conversation held between high-level South Korean officials on whether to send weapons to Ukraine.

A BBC report says that the US has been spying on Seoul, an ally of Washington. The reveal has the potential to wreck relations between the two countries.South Korea has started a probe into how the conversation leaked. However, it insists that intercepting private conversations inside its presidential office isn’t possible.

The discussion about whether or not to send ammunition to Ukraine happened on March 1, 2023, between two of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s senior national security advisors. South Korea, as a policy, doesn’t send arms to countries at war. However, Washington has been pushing it to arm Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Last year, Seoul said it would send artillery shells to the US as its stocks have been depleted since it has been providing Kyiv with arms. However, the deal came with a condition that the US will keep the shells for itself and not send them to Ukraine. The leaked report says that the South Korean government was concerned that the US might divert the ammunition to Ukraine.

The documents show that President Yoon’s foreign affairs secretary Yi Mun-hui reportedly told the then National Security Advisor Kim Sung-han about how the government was concerned “that the US would not be the end user” of the ammunition.

South Korea was also worried that if it was to change its policy and arms Ukraine, it might look like the US pressured it into doing so. Kim Sung-han also suggests arming Poland instead, since the ultimate goal was to ensure weapons reach Kyiv quickly.

The US has been asking South Korea to provide arms to Ukraine, but it has been hesitant since it didn’t want to ruin relations with Russia. Seoul is capable of producing advanced weapons at a quick pace, which is why the US has been keen on it helping Ukraine.

The leak comes at a time when President Yoon is scheduled to travel to the White House soon to celebrate the alliance’s 70 years. However, things have gone awry back home with the opposition questioning how was such a high-level conversation leaked. “This is a clear violation of our sovereignty by the United States and a super-scale security breach on the South Korean part,” the opposition party said in a statement on Monday.

The massive document leak has stirred a hornet’s nest, with Pentagon scrambling to find the source of the leak. The US says the leak is a risk to national security. The documents carry information about the Ukraine war, China and several other allies of Washington.