After it was revealed in July last year that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had not all that long ago been engaging in illegal eavesdropping on telephone conversations, two former NIS directors and one section chief were arrested and another section chief committed suicide. The third daughter of Kim Eun-seong, the section chief who is currentlyl in prison, recently took her life just weeks after being married. This is all a tragedy at the personal level as well as for the NIS as a whole. One hates the crime, but it is painful to have to watch the ensuing tragedy unfold.
All this and still the politicians never try to do much that would prevent the same types of things from happening in the future. The NIS issued an apology a month after the eavesdropping became public knowledge, the ruling party formed a task force on NIS reform, the National Assembly’s intelligence committee created a subcommittee on reform, and that is about all that ever happened. There is talk, but nothing has changed. You would expect the ruling party to lead the way in NIS reform, but it never got around to deciding what its official position would be. The Assembly subcommittee did get around to holding two public hearings. The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) initially was the one that made the biggest deal about illegal eavesdropping on mobile phones, but now it is as if it is staring at a mountain off in the distance. The ruling party keeps dragging its feet, so the GNP has no reason to take the lead, either.
Meanwhile the NIS took some somewhat improper shortcuts when it reformed the structure of part of its organization last month. In accordance with the results of an internal review, it combined its audit (gamsasil) and inspection and supervision (gamchalsil) offices. However, it also divided its "anti-terror security unit," for which there is no particular demand, and created an "anti-terror unit" and "security unit" that essentially puts the number of its departments and subsections back to what they already were. It also used equally twisted methods to promote a few people immediately ahead of retirement.
This backtracking on reform means surveillance anxieties for the people and misfortune for the NIS and responsibility for the situation lies entirely with the government and ruling party. In February, president Roh Moo-hyun, during an "internet dialogue with the people," said there has been "sufficient reform" at the intelligence agency. He is essentially saying all that needs to change there is its people and its practices. The ruling party is not going to move on the issue of structural reform with the president taking a position like that. What reason would there be to get self-inflicted headaches on issues such as abolishing the agency's criminal investigation powers and separating its domestic and foreign operations? The fact that a few members of the ruling party say they are going to submit a proposal for amending the National Intelligence Service Act on Friday is symbolic only insofar as it shows you how split the ruling party is on the inside. The changes that need to be made would be hard to accomplish even if the whole of the ruling camp fought hard for them, so it has to be frustrating for those who really want to see them happen.
This is the last chance there is going to be for reform under the current government. If it does not happen, there is going to be a repeat of the same ill fortune for the NIS and for the public. Kim Eun-seong's third daughter left a suicide note. She said she hoped her father would not be too saddened by her death. Kim was temporarily released from prison, but he returned, having done nothing but cry.
[Editorial] Reform of the National Intelligence Service |
