[Editorial] Who Ordered the Eavesdropping?

The investigation into eavesdropping by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) during the Government of the People is picking up speed. An arrest warrant has been issued for Kim Eun Seong, former NIS deputy director, the first time ever for a high-level official there. He has told the prosecution that the activity was organized within the NIS organization and it was not done something he did alone.

That is very shocking because it means that it was not something that happened simply at the hands of working-level officials. It was done by the NIS organization, with precision planning and execution. The claims every former director has made about there never having been any illegal eavesdropping were all lies.

The focus of attention becomes the question of how high things went, of who during the Government of the People commanded operations from the top, because the physiology of the NIS organization is such that it would be hard to think the second in command would be able to order an eavesdropping operation on his own, without being directed to do so from above. That now being the situation, the NIS' former directors should quit with the excuses and lies. The right thing to do would be to tell whole truth and accept the judgment of the law. Prosecutors need to determine who the eavesdropping targeted and how the information obtained was used. Expanding the investigation into the politicians will be inevitable, since there are rumors that the information wound up in the hands of someone who was a powerful insider in the ruling camp. In that sense, the current prosecution investigation is just the starting point.

It is hard to understand how unlike the investigation into eavesdropping during the Government of the People, the investigation into eavesdropping during the Civilian Government is not making progress. They say that high-level officials at the intelligence organization are being evasive, saying they "don’t remember because it was a long time ago," but we can't have the prosecution being taken for a ride with such excuses. The prosecution needs to dig into all the facts so as to ascertain who was behind the eavesdropping, regardless of the issue of the statue of limitations. We hope to see hard work from the prosecution.

The Hankyoreh, 8 October 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]