hankyoreh

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul speaks before the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Feb. 26, 2025. (Yonhap)

As the US Department of Energy (DOE), which handles nuclear energy research and nuclear weapons programs, reportedly mulls classifying Korea as a “sensitive country,” Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said it appears the US hasn’t made a final decision about the sensitive country designation. But Cho dodged a question about whether Korea had directly confirmed the matter with the DOE, only stating that officials are “looking into the situation.”

In a plenary session of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Tuesday afternoon, lawmakers’ questions focused on indications that the US, which has long described its alliance with Korea as being “ironclad,” is now moving to designate Korea as a “sensitive country” that poses national security concerns.

“We’ve raised the issue [based on] what we’ve learned through unofficial channels, and we’re at the stage where officials with the US Department of Energy are looking into the situation again,” Cho said in response to a question by Democratic Party lawmaker Hong Kee-won.

“We don’t have access to any American officials right now who can explain the background or rationale. My understanding is that they’ll discuss this with us after finishing an interview review of the situation,” Cho added.

The Korean Embassy to the US is reaching out to the DOE, but reportedly hasn’t received a definite answer yet because the responsible official is currently away on official business.

While Cho did say the final decision is pending, it’s unclear whether the DOE is still considering whether to add Korea to the sensitive country list or whether it has already made a final decision.

The Hankyoreh recently learned that a list of sensitive countries set to take effect on April 15, 2025, was delivered to some of the 17 government-funded research institutes administered by the DOE at the beginning of March. That list apparently includes five new countries, one of which is South Korea.

If the Korean government is unable to engineer its removal from the list through diplomatic channels before April 15, Korea will face major restrictions in cooperating with the US on a wide range of cutting-edge technologies including nuclear power, AI and quantum computing.

“What procedures are involved in finalizing [the list of sensitive countries]? Will we have an opportunity to present a defense or state our position?” asked Democratic Party lawmaker Wi Sung-lac.

“We need to establish the facts before we can discuss the procedures. But we’re in a situation where the US Department of Energy officials are looking into the rationale and facts right now and they’ll be in touch with us after that,” Wi said.

When Wi suggested that recent domestic calls for Korea’s nuclear armament are one of the factors behind Korea being considered for inclusion on the sensitive countries list, Cho said, “There’s something to that argument, which involves a number of assumptions. But we’ll have to wait and see whether that’s the sole reason.”

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul answers questions while appearing before the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on March 11, 2025. (Yonhap)

By Park Min-hee, senior staff writer

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