The presidential office said Sunday it will hold necessary discussions with the United States following a U.S. report accusing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of intercepting South Korean government communications regarding aid to Ukraine in war with Russia.

In a report published Saturday in the U.S. (local time), the New York Times said some parts of the CIA documents, posted on a social media chat platform Discord, detailed South Korea's "internal debates about whether to give the U.S. artillery shells for use in Ukraine, violating Seoul's policy on providing lethal aid."

The newspaper noted South Korean officials were concerned that U.S. President Joe Biden would pressure President Yoon Suk Yeol to come through and that the U.S. learned about South Korean deliberations through "a signals intelligence report." It's a term used by spy agencies to describe intercepted communications, from phone calls to electronic messages, according to the New York Times.

In a press briefing Sunday, a presidential official said, "We will review precedents and instances involving other countries, and come up with our response accordingly."

The official said South Korea has not yet decided on whether to supply Ukraine with weaponry.

"There is no change to our government's basic stance on Ukraine," the official said, referring to South Korea's stated focus on providing humanitarian aid, rather than lethal weapons.

Source: Yonhap News Agency