Reuters\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US energy department put South Korea on a watchlist because visitors to its laboratories mishandled sensitive information, Joseph Yun, the acting US ambassador, said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The designation, which relegated the US ally to the lowest tier of a list that includes China, Iran, Israel, Russia, Taiwan, and North Korea, sparked controversy and debate in Seoul, which said it had not been notified by Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSouth Korea was put on this list because there was some mishandling of sensitive information,\u201d Yun said in remarks to the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He did not elaborate on the issue, but said more than 2,000 South Korean students, researchers, and government officials visited US labs last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The designation was limited to the department\u2019s facilities, Yun added, and did not have wider implications for cooperation between the allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is not a big deal,\u201d he added. \u201cThere were some incidents because there were so many South Koreans going there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week the US energy department confirmed it had designated South Korea a \u201csensitive\u201d country in January, but did not explain why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vice ministers in Seoul were set on Tuesday to brief acting President Choi Sang-mok on their response, while Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun is expected to ask for South Korea to be dropped from the list when he visits the United States this week, government sources have said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a report last year, the US energy department said it had fired a contractor who tried to board a flight to South Korea with \u201cproprietary nuclear reactor design software\u201d owned by the Idaho National Laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That individual, who was being investigated by US law enforcement, had been in contact with an unnamed foreign government, the report said, without identifying the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was not immediately clear if that case contributed to the designation. Officials in the energy department and state department were not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US decision to add South Korea to the list was taken by the previous Biden administration, a spokesperson for the US Department of Energy (DOE) has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n