Asia Pacific
17:19, 30-May-2019
South Korea fires diplomat who leaked Moon-Trump phone conversation
["china"]
Share
Copied
South Korea's foreign ministry on Thursday fired a diplomat who leaked the classified contents of a phone conversation between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month.
The ministry's disciplinary committee met earlier that day and decided to fire the diplomat at South Korea's embassy in Washington, according to local media reports.
The diplomat leaked the details of a confidential Moon-Trump phone conversation to Rep. Khang Hyo-shang of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.
Khang later disclosed the details of the conversation, classified as a level-3 secret, at a press conference.
President Moon bluntly criticized the lawmaker and the opposition party for using the diplomatic secret as a source of political fights during the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Trump will visit Seoul in late June during his trip to Asia to attend the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Osaka, Japan, according to South Korea's presidential Blue House.
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency