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South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha at a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Oct. 10 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul. (Yonhap News)

Controversy is expected after South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha admitted that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had expressed his displeasure with the military agreement that was reached during the third inter-Korean summit last month.

During a hearing of the parliamentary audit by the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee that was held on Oct. 10 at the Foreign Ministry office, in the main government complex in Seoul, Kang responded in the affirmative when asked whether Pompeo had expressed strong displeasure about the inter-Korean military agreement in a phone call with Kang after the inter-Korean summit.

“He had a number of questions since he hadn’t been adequately briefed,” Kang added. In response to a report by Japanese newspaper the Nihon Keizai Shimbun that Pompeo had used strong language in the phone call, Kang said she “wouldn’t define it as strong language.”

After Kang’s response led to speculation that the US had expressed dissatisfaction about the results of the military agreement, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that the phone call in question had occurred before the inter-Korean summit.

“This didn’t involve a single phone call. There was an understanding about what this means [in a subsequent phone call],” said a senior official at the Ministry. There was presumably some touchiness when opinions were being shared prior to the inter-Korean summit about the content of the military agreement, which dealt with such matters as the UN Command.

When Rep. Lee Su-hyeok, a lawmaker with the Democratic Party, asked toward the end of the hearing whether South Korea and the US had done enough to exchange opinions about the military agreement ahead of time, Kang said, “There had definitely been adequate consultation.”

While explaining the content of her phone call with Pompeo after the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, Kang related that Pompeo “expressed his congratulations and his gratitude for President Moon’s efforts, which produced the results of the Pyongyang Summit.” This was a belated explanation of reports in the foreign press that Pompeo had been “infuriated” by the inter-Korean military agreement.

Kang also courted controversy by changing her story about the possibility of lifting the South Korean government’s May 24 sanctions against North Korea, implemented after the sinking of the Cheonan corvette in 2010, which she had earlier said was “under review with related ministries.” Kang now says that “an interagency review is not taking place.”

When Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan asked whether the government was willing to revoke the May 24 Measures, which block tourism to Mt. Kumgang and other sites in North Korea, Kang had said, “I’m told that this is under review with related ministries.” Kang’s remarks emerged in the process of answering Lee’s question about whether tourism to North Korea is subject to the UN’s sanctions on the North. Kang said that “tourism per se is not subject to sanctions, but the funds used for it are.”

The May 24 Measures, which were administrative measures taken by the government of former president Lee Myung-bak in response to the sinking of the Cheonan corvette in 2010, are distinct from the decision to end tourism to Mt. Kumgang, following the fatal shooting of South Korean tourist Park Wang-ja in 2008.

The May 24 Measures included suspending inter-Korean commerce, banning visits to North Korea except for the Kaesong Industrial Complex and the Mt. Kumgang district, limiting contact with North Korean citizens and blocking new investment in North Korea. Since then, however, these restrictions have been lifted one by one, leaving the measures mostly toothless except for the suspension of inter-Korean commerce and the ban on new investments, which are tied up with UN sanctions on North Korea.

In Kang’s response, she appears to have confused this situation and the Moon administration’s continuing commitment to inter-Korean cooperation with the issue of tourism to Mt. Kumgang.

After Kang’s remarks led to a debate about lifting the government’s independent sanctions on North Korea, she backpedaled by stating that a substantial portion of the May 24 Measures overlap with UN sanctions on North Korea and that they are a matter that should be reviewed in light of the overall situation, including progress toward denuclearization.

“What I was trying to say was that I’ve been told the question of lifting the May 24 Measures is under review not ‘with related ministries’ but ‘by related ministries,” Kang said, while apologizing for provoking controversy.

By Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writer, and Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]