Files correction request with press arbitration body

'Does nothing to serve the national interest'

[Provided by the National Intelligence Service]
[Provided by the National Intelligence Service]

South Korea's National Intelligence Service has taken legal action against a media outlet over reports that a US Defense Department agency refused a visit by NIS Director Lee Jong-seok.

The NIS said Tuesday it had "initiated legal proceedings, including filing a correction request for false reporting with the Korea Press Arbitration Commission on Oct. 13," against the domestic outlet responsible for the report.

The report alleged that Lee had sought to visit the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in March but that the American side had refused, causing the visit to fall through.

On the day the report was published, the NIS had already signaled a strong response, distributing a statement to media calling the report "false and untrue" and warning it would "respond forcefully by reviewing all necessary measures, including legal action."

It is unusual for the NIS to go beyond requesting corrections or supplementary reporting and actually pursue proceedings before the press arbitration body or a court.

The agency generally refrains from filing suits under its statutory principle of keeping its activities confidential, and court precedent holding that state institutions must broadly accept press scrutiny and criticism is applied even more strictly to the NIS, making it difficult to prevail in such cases.

In its media statement Tuesday, the NIS criticized the outlet, saying that "publishing 'throw-it-out-and-see' reporting on intelligence matters by exploiting the fact that we are unable to offer specific explanations — precisely because of these circumstances" of confidentiality "does nothing to serve the national interest."

Meanwhile, regarding a separate report by the same outlet claiming that the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence had ordered restrictions on sharing North Korea intelligence, the NIS said it was "once again making clear" that intelligence cooperation between South Korea and the United States "is being actively conducted on a bilateral and reciprocal basis across a wide range of fields and agencies — covering North Korean missiles, conventional forces, North Korean trends, international relations, cyber and counterintelligence — beyond the portion of intelligence that gave rise to the 'information-sharing restrictions.'"


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