S.Korea rattled by spy agency's political interference

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S.Korea rattled by spy agency's political interference

(Xinhua) 08:36, August 12, 2013

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SEOUL, Aug. 10 -- South Korean police announced an interim investigation result that it failed to find any evidence of negative comments posted online by a female spy agent about Moon Jae-in, then main opposition party's presidential candidate.

The unusual Sunday-night disclosure came just three days before the Dec. 19, 2012 presidential election, and one hour after Moon finished the last TV debate with his archrival Park Geun-hye, then ruling party candidate who won the election and took office in February.

To the astonishment, the police reversed its initial ruling four months later, saying that two spy agents, including the female agent, intervened in politics by posting more than 120 political comments on the Internet in violation of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) act, which bans agents from participating in political activities.

SYSTEMIC INTERVENTION IN POLITICS

After two months of probe into the alleged election meddling, the prosecution concluded in mid-June that Won Sei-hoon, former NIS chief who headed the spy agency for around four years under former President Lee Myung-bak, ordered agents to conduct online smear campaign against opposition presidential candidates.

The special investigation drew a conclusion that spy agents systemically intervened in domestic politics by writing around 1, 900 postings on politics in cyberspace through hundreds of different user IDs. Among them were 73 online posts, which directly tampered with last year's presidential election.

Prosecutors believed that Won tried to prevent opposition candidates, who he viewed as "leftist followers" of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), from seizing power. The prosecution indicted the former spy chief without physical detention on charges of violations of the NIS act as well as the Public Official Election Act.

Kim Yong-pan, former head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA), was prosecuted without physical detention as well on charges of abusing his authority to hamper police investigation into the case.

Opposition lawmakers and civic groups lambasted the spy agency, demanding President Park state her position on the scandal.

On June 24, Park gave her first word on it through her press secretary, saying that she had no knowledge about the incident nor did she benefit from it. Park said suspicions should be cleared for the public, noting that ruling and opposition parties can discuss a procedure for the clear-up.

COUNTERATTACK

Around one and a half hours after Park's remarks, the NIS made a counterattack by declassifying and releasing a 2007 inter-Korean summit transcript that should not have been made public for decades. NIS officials handed out the 100-page transcript to lawmakers on the parliamentary intelligence committee.

The copies of the transcript, which showed conversation between late South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and late DPRK leader Kim Jong-il during the 2007 summit meeting, argued that Roh undermined the legitimacy of the western sea border or the Northern Limit Line (NLL).

The revelation rekindled controversy over Roh's remarks that was first triggered in October 2012 by a ruling party lawmaker who claimed that Roh abandoned the maritime border, which Pyongyang has never recognized because the NLL was drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command after the 1950-53 Korean War.

Opposition lawmakers rose up. Moon, former chief of staff to Roh and a Democratic Party lawmaker, said that the incumbent NIS chief Nam Jae-joon would deserve being sacked if the agency disclosed the minutes without any order or approval by the presidential office because he directly reports to President Park.

Amid an escalating controversy, President Park gave her first word about the NIS reform on July 8, saying that the spy agency, which has been a subject of lots of controversies, should be newly reborn. Park instructed the agency to reform itself, stressing that it should devote itself to its original duties such as collecting DPRK intelligence, responding to cyber terrorism and protecting economic security.