South Korea to discuss ‘issues raised’ from leaked documents with US

SEOUL: South Korea is aware of news reports about a leak of several classified US military documents and it plans to discuss “issues raised” as a result of the leak with the United States, a South Korean presidential official said on Sunday.

Several classified US military documents have recently been posted on social media offering a partial, month-old snapshot of the war in Ukraine, three US officials told Reuters on Friday, adding that Russia or pro-Russian elements were likely behind the leak.

Reuters has not been able to verify the authenticity of the documents. The US Justice Department has said it is investigating the leak.

One of the documents, obtained by Reuters, showed details about internal discussions among top South Korean top officials about US pressure on Seoul to help supply weapons to Ukraine, and its policy of not doing so.

The document, which does not appear to have a date on it, said that South Korea had agreed to sell artillery shells to help the United States replenish its stockpiles, insisting that the “end user” should be the US military. But internally, top South Korean officials were worried that the United States would divert them to Ukraine.