[Column] Time to be cool-headed

Ko Jung-ae
The author is a senior editor of the JoongAng Ilbo.

“If you talk with someone on a cell phone, you must presume that your conversation is being overheard by not only the United States but also a few other countries,” said a former security agent on the other end of the line. He came up with the answer when I asked about the repercussions of the recent leak of highly classified Pentagon documents. It is an open secret that the U.S. has been spying on its allies too.

Then, could the U.S. avoid being wiretapped? Certainly not. After the CIA was found to have spied on phone conversations of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany was outraged. But it turned out that Berlin also carried out intelligence missions in the U.S., including the White House. Every country strives to spy on others — and not to be spied on. The former security official who asked not to be identified found fault with leaking, not wiretapping itself.

You can criticize the U.S. for wiretapping the presidential office of its ally. Others can attribute it to the hurried relocation of the presidential office by Yoon Suk Yeol from the Blue House under relatively tight security at that time. But the former security official suggests broadening our perception of spying activities. In fact, the leaked Pentagon documents reflect a complex reality.

First of all, the reality is related to the character of the war in Ukraine. The leaked documents look like a part of daily briefings to the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, as hinted at by the specific dates like Feb. 28 and March 1. The documents graphically depict how the West is training and arming the Ukraine forces in detail. They even worry about a lack of ammunition and a porous air defense system in Ukraine, not to mention a live relay of Russia’s air raid plan and its goal.

The documents also make it clear that the Ukraine troops’ relatively good performance owes much to U.S. military support. “On the U.S. part, it couldn’t be better if America can stop Russia from returning to its expansionist policy, without shedding any blood and no matter how much money it costs,” the former security official said.

Under such volatile circumstances, South Korea is being called on to supply 155-millimeter artillery shells for Ukraine. “After the Cold War, most NATO members kept their shell production lines to the minimum,” the security agent said. “After 2008, they cut their defense expenditures too. While Ukraine’s artillery shells nearly ran out in the 14-month war, South Korea remains the only country with sufficient ammunition. Every country knows that. We have no way to get around it. Can we supply Ukraine with shells without Russia knowing it? That’s impossible.”

BBC presented a similar analysis. “The U.S. has made no secret of the fact that it wants Seoul to arm Ukraine. It believes South Korea, with its ability to build advanced weapons at a breakneck speed, could make a significant contribution to the outcome of the war,” the British broadcaster said. The analysis reflects South Korea’s heightened stature as a global defense industry leader. If South Korea complies with the pressure from the U.S. and others, would it promote its national interest? What if the weapons support worsens Korea’s relations with China and Russia to the point of no return? The dilemma was already manifested in the leaked conversation between the former national security advisor and his top aide.

The Yoon administration adheres to the principle that his government will not provide combat weapons to war zones. The president’s solid position on the issue was reflected in the press conference staged by opposition leader Lee Jae-myung last week with foreign correspondents in Seoul. A Russian reporter asked Lee if he could praise President Yoon at least for once. “The liberal forces in Korea are strongly attacking President Yoon’s foreign policy for being blindly friendly to America. But the president does not provide military weapons for Ukraine despite increasing pressure from the U.S. and NATO. President Yoon also announced an ambitious plan to develop the chip industry on Korea’s own rather than immediately accepting a U.S. proposal for the Chip 4 alliance.”

The Yoon administration reportedly decided to “lend” 500,000 rounds of 155-millimeter shells to the U.S. A government official said the U.S. will certainly demand more if the war continues.

The number of people handling top secrets in the U.S. are believed to reach 1.3 million, including a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who the FBI arrested on Thursday for posting classified documents online. The dramatic surge in the number of Americans with access to top secrets is an offshoot of the change of U.S. security systems toward sharing intelligence faster and broader after the Sept. 11 attacks. That means the possibility of top secrets being leaked grows too. The Economist pointed out that if such leaks had occurred in Britain, Israel, Germany and Australia, the U.S. would have stopped intelligence sharing completely. Nevertheless, no other country would cease its intelligence sharing with the U.S. even after the leak. That’s the reality. What matters is national interest. If an issue is complicated, you better see it from a broader perspective. It is time to be cool-headed.