The DOE OIG discovered that the INL employee’s email and chat history demonstrated both “knowledge of export-control restrictions and communications with a foreign government,” according to the Korea Times.
No details about the content or nature of the employee’s communications have been provided. Investigations reportedly were launched into this matter by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security.
An INL spokesperson told Nuclear Newswire that INL “can’t comment at all on personnel actions.”
Sensitive and Other Designated Countries List: The Korea Times also reported that South Korea was placed on the DOE’s Sensitive and Other Designated Countries List (SCL) in early January because of “security issues related to DOE-affiliated research institutions rather than a broad foreign policy decision” and because of “violations of security regulations during Korean researchers’ visits to DOE laboratories or participation in joint research projects.”
According to the DOE, President Biden added South Korea to the lowest SCL category during his final weeks in office, but the designation is not scheduled to take effect until April 15. Researchers from countries listed on the SCL—including China, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Russia, and Taiwan—are subject to stricter scrutiny and certification procedures when they request access to DOE research institutions, such as national laboratories. Such restrictions could limit researchers’ participation in research related to nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, and other advanced technologies.
A deterrence? The reason South Korea was added to the SCL may be related to the expressed interest of some politicians in that country in developing nuclear weapons. Another report in the Korea Times states, “Analysts suggest that Washington may be concerned about the growing calls within South Korea to develop its own nuclear weapons. Some conservative politicians and researchers in the country have been advocating for Seoul to pursue nuclear capabilities, or at least enhance its existing ones, amid increasing skepticism about the reliability of U.S. extended deterrence.”
The government of South Korea is reportedly seeking a way to persuade the Trump administration to remove the country from the SCL before the designation takes effect in April.
