A South Korean newspaper has defended its decision to publish an op-ed by the recently indicted North Korea expert Sue Mi Terry, after U.S. prosecutors alleged that the former CIA analyst and White House official wrote the article at the behest of Seoul’s foreign ministry.

In a notice uploaded on Sunday, the Hankook Ilbo acknowledged that it received a request from South Korea’s foreign ministry last year to consider publishing an op-ed by Terry about President Yoon Suk-yeol’s visit to the U.S.

But the ROK daily insisted that it made the decision to run the article based on its own