hankyoreh

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

The US has reportedly said that the South Korean president will not be among the leaders of close allies wiretapped by its National Security Agency.

A senior government official said on condition of anonymity on Jan. 26 that the US had confirmed through diplomatic channels that it regards South Korea as one of its close allies. This was in reference to the NSA reform package, which states that the US will not tap the phones of leaders of its close allies.

While this can be interpreted as meaning that the South Korean president will be excluded from the US’s eavesdropping activity since South Korea is a close ally of the US, it also suggests that South Korea was on the list of countries that were wiretapped in the past.

In connection with this, the official said that it is his understanding that the US will soon be providing the South Korean government with an official explanation of its plan to reform the NSA’s surveillance program.

The plan to reform the NSA surveillance program, which was announced by US President Barack Obama on Jan. 17, states that it will not eavesdrop on the conversations of the leaders of close allies. However, since this did not specify which countries were close allies, the South Korean government has been using diplomatic channels to ask the US for confirmation.

In 2013, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden provoked controversy when he revealed that the US National Security Agency had been tapping the phones of the leaders of 35 countries, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, and leaders of other allied countries.

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