No reason to believe U.S. tapped Korea's presidential office: official

Kim Tae-hyo, principal deputy national security adviser at the Korean presidential office, talks to reporters on Tuesday at Dulles International Airport. [NEWS1]

There still exists no hard evidence that the United States has eavesdropped on conversations at Korea's presidential office, a ranking Korean official said Thursday.

The official said there was no reason to believe the United States conducted any malicious activities in Seoul.

"From what the Korean government has determined so far, there isn't any reason to conclude that the United States has wiretapped us," the official said while meeting with reporters in Washington, asking not to be identified.

"We believe there has not been any malicious activities" committed by the United States, the official added.

Earlier news reports suggested that U.S. intelligence services may have eavesdropped on conversations at Korea's presidential office, citing classified documents allegedly leaked from the U.S. Department of Defense and shared on social media.

Kim Tae-hyo, principal deputy national security adviser at the Korean presidential office, earlier said there was no reason to believe the United States has acted with any malicious intention toward Seoul, also noting that a great deal of the allegedly leaked documents appeared to have been fabricated.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, insisted that intelligence collecting activities may not always be malicious, saying all countries may engage in such activities.

"Every country has the possibility of gathering intelligence on us. We too cannot guarantee that we are not engaged in such activities toward others," the official said.

"It means that based on what the Korean government has determined, there is no evidence to conclude that the United States has wiretapped us. It means that we assume there has not been any malicious activities so far," the official added.

The official also insisted that the leaked information did not reveal any sensitive intelligence.

"It is clear that the disclosed information does not correspond to facts as far as I understand," the official said.

"The mutual trust between Korea and the United States in sharing information and preparing for the [Korea-U.S.] summit is firmly operating," added the official, referring to the upcoming summit between Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden, set to be held in the U.S. capital on April 26.

Yonhap