Trump administration declare South Korea a national security threat and designated it as “sensitive country”: ROK-US cooperation in nuclear and AI under threat as Trump put sanctions on South Korea

Didn’t this happen a week ago? Israel is on the list too; and they’re like, Trump’s boys

Meanwhile, all sanctions on North Korea are to be lifted immediately.

I don’t know Korean news sources but this happened before, they just release the list now. It was the Biden admin that added them:

https://m.koreaherald.com/article/10443627

The ministry provided the clarification following discussions with US officials, days after the Department of Energy confirmed South Korea was included in the lowest category of its “sensitive and other designated countries list” in early January under the previous Biden administration.

The US designation was “attributable to the security concerns related to the research institutes affiliated with the Department of Energy, rather than diplomatic policy issues,” the foreign ministry said in a press notice.

“Even if South Korea is listed, the US side has confirmed that it will have little impact on bilateral technology cooperation, including joint research between South Korea and the US,” the ministry said. (Yonhap)

This is the Asia pivot?

The Trump administration didn’t; [the Biden administration did](https://www.reuters.com/world/us-designated-south-korea-sensitive-country-amid-talk-nuclear-weapons-2025-03-15/)

>The administration of then-President Joe Biden put South Korea on the lowest tier of the Sensitive and Other Designated Countries List in January shortly before Biden left office, the DOE said in a written response to Reuters queries.

If the South Korean government isn’t seriously looking into developing nukes, they’re failing their entire population.