hankyoreh

On April 26, 2023 (local time), US President Joe Biden reacts as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol sings “American Pie” at a banquet held at the White House. (Yonhap)

The US government has officially confirmed that Korea is included on the “Sensitive and Other Designated Countries List” (SCL). The decision was apparently made under outgoing President Joe Biden in early January, shortly before Donald Trump’s inauguration. The US and Korea are reportedly in deliberations about SCL designation, which is scheduled to take effect on April 15.

“The prior administration added the Republic of Korea (ROK) to the lowest category (Other Designated Country) of the SCL in early January 2025,” a spokesperson for the US Department of Energy (DOE) told Yonhap News on Friday in response to a request for confirmation. The spokesperson said that the list, which is maintained by the DOE, covers a wide range of countries.

“Currently, there are no new restrictions on bilateral science and technology cooperation with the ROK. The Energy Department looks forward to collaborating with the ROK to advance our mutual interests,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that a country’s inclusion on the list “does not necessarily indicate an adversarial relationship with the United States” and that “many designated countries are those we regularly cooperate with on a variety of energy, science, technology, counterterrorism and nonproliferation issues.”

The DOE spokesperson did not specify why Korea was added to the list shortly before Biden left office.

The DOE website stipulates that SCL designation can be made for reasons related to national security, nuclear nonproliferation, regional instability, economic security threats and support of terrorism. The list is reportedly managed by the DOE Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (OICI) in cooperation with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

Researchers and institutes from countries on the SCL face restrictions on exchange and cooperation with the United States in high-tech areas including nuclear power and artificial intelligence.

“Inclusion on the SCL also does not prohibit Americans or US Department of Energy personnel from visiting or doing business with listed countries, just as it doesn’t prevent these foreign nationals from visiting DOE sites,” the DOE spokesperson said, explaining that “these visits and cooperation undergo an internal review beforehand.”

“It’s true that the Biden administration added Korea to the list. Korean diplomats are in deliberations with the US to correct this before it takes effect on April 15,” a diplomatic source told the Hankyoreh over the phone.

By Kim Won-chul, Washington correspondent

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