A “significant number” of classified US intelligence documents on South Korea that have been leaked in recent weeks, among others, have been “forged,” the South Korean president said today.

The leak, which the Pentagon says poses a “very serious” risk to U.S. national security, caused embarrassment at the diplomatic level. Some leaked documents seem to show that Washington is gathering information about its allies such as Israel and South Korea.

According to press reports, some of the documents speak of the concerns of senior South Korean national security officials who fear that weapons and ammunition produced in their country will end up being used in Ukraine. It would be a violation of Seoul’s policy of not selling arms to warring nations.

However, in a telephone call today, the US and South Korean defense secretaries concluded that, according to the South Korean president, “a significant number of the documents in question have been forged.”

Dozens of photographs of documents have been circulating on social media and messaging services such as Twitter, Telegram and Discord for at least a few weeks now.

The Pentagon said it was trying to determine if the documents were genuine and said at least one of them turned out to be fake.

The leak prompted US officials to reassure allies such as South Korea, which has provided humanitarian and non-lethal aid to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion of the country in 2022.

The exposure of alleged talks about Ukraine between senior national security officials has drawn criticism in South Korea due to the vulnerability of communications in the country’s key administrations, such as the presidency.

However, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office said today that “the security has been verified” and that the wiretapping allegations are “an absurd lie.”

Yoon is due to pay an official visit to the US this month.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP.