[Editorial] Korea a 'Republic of Secrets'
The National Archives and Records Service has for the first time released figures on state secrets classified over the last five years, at the request of the civic group People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) and the Hankyoreh. The National Defense Ministry, National Tax Service, Supreme Public Prosecutor General's Office, and the National Police Agency have classified some 16,000 items as "top secret," "secret," "confidential," and "restricted." The ministries of unification, justice, foreign affairs and trade, and two others refused to make that information public, saying there was clear concern about harming the national interest, particularly security. It is enough to make you feel we are living in "republic of secrets."
The government should not disclose information when doing so clearly might hurt the public interest. But it is a serious problem if information is being classified for bureaucratic expediency, to avoid observation and interference from citizens, using vague justifications about the particularity of the work. That hurts transparency and public confidence, and it is an infringement on the constitutionally guaranteed "people's right to know."
The rate of non-disclosure has barely gone down at all since 1998, when the "Information Disclosure Law" took effect. There are so many problematic clauses in that law that it has been called the "Refuse to Disclose Information Law." It gets interpreted whichever way needs dictate at the time. It is because of the resulting distrust that PSPD has filed a lawsuit that would force the National Intelligence Service to disclose the statistics it has refused to make public so far. That is a shame for the Participatory Government, which says it is about citizen participation and democracy.
The law has to be revised so that it is specific and strict about the reasons a government agency can choose not to disclose information, as currently the law is vague and wide-ranging. Something else that needs to be changed is the make-up of the "Information Disclosure Review Council," which is largely composed of bureaucrats. Also important will be breaking the habits of some in public service who apply the standards for state secrets arbitrarily and continue with the practices of closed-room government administration.
The Hankyoreh, 25 June 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
Korea a 'Republic of Secrets' |
