[Editorial] Limit NIS to Foreign Intelligence

Put simply you are left at a loss. It is shocking that during the government of Kim Young Sam, which liked to cal itself the "civilian government" and even the government of Kim Dae Jung, which called itself the "government of human rights" the National Intelligence Service (NIS) engaged in illegal eavesdropping. Your blood freezes to learn that while governments have claimed listening in on mobile phone conversations is impossible the NIS had been tapping into such conversations all along. It was all in vain when with the start of the Kim Dae Jung's Government of the People the NIS changed its name, having been the National Security Planning Agency, and pledged to start anew. You don't know what to say to the fact that instead of putting and end to the wiretapping, the NIS actually elevated its surveillance activities to the level where its operatives filed reports about the contents of email. It was all lies and hypocrisy. The only words that come to mind are those of the bygone phrase "everyone's a thief."

Former presidents Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung need to give the country some satisfying answers. It has been learned that during their terms they regularly received reports of the findings resulting from such activities. Some of the things they learned from those reports must have been secret information so sensitive it would've been hard to ascertain without wiretapping and electronic surveillance, so you want to figure out whether they really never became aware of what was happening. Even if the NIS ignored presidential order to halt the bugging and even if they had no idea, that does not excuse them from responsibility. Both men need to apologize or confess and do something that demonstrates they accept responsibility.

What does the Participatory Government of Roh Moo Hyun have to say for itself? For close to two and a half year it had denied the NIS ever engaged in eavesdropping. Former NIS director Go Yeong Gu repeatedly told the National Assembly that it hadn't gone on during the government of Kim Dae Jung. It makes you curious as to whether he knew and deliberately hid the fact or whether he really wandered around not knowing anything. It would be a problem if he really was unaware, but if he knew and tried to just slide by the issue he needs to bear both moral responsibility and legal responsibility for perjury before the National Assembly.

The NIS supposedly issued a "confession" but the truth remains a mystery. No one knows who was bugged and for what purpose, and how the information was used. The claim that the illegal activity stopped in March 2002 is rather suspicious. At any rate, nothing more can be expected from the NIS's own internal inquiry. There needs to be a thorough prosecution investigation and subsequently strict punishment for those responsible.

Cheong Wa Dae senior secretary for civil affairs Moon Jae In has declared "there has been no illegal eavesdropping activity during the Participatory Government." Such claims can no longer be believed at face value. Did it not occur during the government of Kim Dae Jung, which repeatedly claimed such activity was not happening? That would mean the NIS disobeyed a presidential order, and there is nothing keeping it from disobeying presidential order now. Furthermore, in private, NIS officials have reportedly been saying that intelligence agencies all over the world engage in eavesdropping, and that the problem is that the activity has been exposed, not that it took place.

As long as the NIS has a domestic section the possibility of illegal intelligence gathering will not easily disappear. Therefore the country must seriously consider fundamentally reorganizing the intelligence agency. One fundamental solution might be to have it responsible only for intelligence on North Korea and foreign countries. Did not presidential candidate Roh Moo Hyun pledge to limit the NIS to gathering foreign intelligence if elected?

The Hankyoreh, 6 August 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]