The National Security Council (NSC) was reportedly worried President Joe Biden would jeopardize a shipment of ammunition to Ukraine by making a premature phone call to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, according to classified Department of Defense (DOD) documents obtained by the Daily Caller.
The Biden administration sought artillery ammunition from South Korea as part of a push to further supply Ukraine in its war against Russia, according to the classified documents, which are dated to early March of 2023. The top secret intelligence indicates that NSC officials were concerned Biden would make a premature phone call to Yoon, throwing into doubt whether or not the U.S. would be able to secure the ammunition.
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The classified documents were initially leaked online last month on various social media platforms, the first of which is believed to have been a Minecraft group on Discord. They were subsequently scrubbed from social media, before resurfacing in media reports in recent days, during which time they were acquired by the Daily Caller.
South Korea, while providing non-lethal support directly to Ukraine for over a year, has an official policy against sending lethal aid directly to nations involved in armed conflict. According to the classified documents, South Korean officials including Foreign Affairs Secretary Yi Mun-hui were concerned about who the “end-user” of ammunition sent to the United States would be and whether they would first need to alter their country’s arms policy.
The NSC “was reportedly also worried that the U.S. President would call South Korean President Yoon Sun-yeol directly” before South Korean officials were ready to have a leader-to-leader discussion about the artillery rounds, the document reads. (RELATED: LEAKED DOCS: New Chinese Hypersonic Missile Has ‘High Probability’ Of Penetrating US Defenses)
In response to questions from the Daily Caller about the leaked intelligence, the NSC pointed to a pair of press briefings held Monday. During those briefings, NSC spokesman Kirby and a DOD spokesperson both stated that the U.S. had been in communications with allies implicated in the intelligence leak but did not go into specifics.
South Korea reacted negatively to the leaks, demanding “appropriate measures” and claiming that a “considerable amount” of the information is fabricated. President Yoon is slated to make an official state visit to Washington later this month.