DOE's 'sensitive country' listing related to technology security review: Korean FM

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) told Korea that it had designated Seoul on its "sensitive country" list as part of efforts to review technology security in response to the emergence of new science technology, Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said Monday.

Cho made the remark during a parliamentary session amid Korea's diplomatic efforts to reverse the DOE's January designation of Korea in the "lowest" category of its "sensitive and other designated countries list."

"The DOE explained (to us) that the designation was part of its overall process to review and strengthen technology-related security in response to the shifting technology landscape due to the emergence of new science technologies," he said.

Cho said Korea has been listed in the lowest "third-grade" category of the DOE list, one of the "other designated countries."

"This is profoundly different from the first and second grades, which focus on nonproliferation and the prevention of terrorism," the foreign minister noted.

Korea's designation spawned concerns here that it could deal a blow to Seoul's efforts to seek deeper cooperation with Washington in nuclear energy and other sectors.

The designated countries are subject to stricter scrutiny when access is requested to DOE research institutions and other facilities for technology cooperation or other purposes.

The foreign minister said that, to his understanding, the DOE expected the list to remain confidential and not open to the public, with only a few officials involved in technology security aware of it.

"It was identified that the reasons behind Korea's inclusion on the list were not due to diplomatic policy but were related to security issues regarding research institutes under the DOE," the foreign minister said.

The DOE, however, has not specified any security violation case involving Korea regarding its designation, he said, adding that "As far as I know, it's not the result of a single case."

A report to Congress from the DOE Office of the Inspector General earlier showed that the Idaho National Laboratory terminated a laboratory contractor employee after the individual attempted to board a flight to Korea with export-controlled information regarding proprietary nuclear reactor design software.

The inclusion will subject Koreans visiting 17 DOE-related institutes to prior background reviews, but it will not lead to any new restrictions on joint research projects or other technology cooperation between Seoul and Washington, the minister said, quoting explanations from the DOE. (Yonhap)