[Editorial] Enough About ‘Terrorism Prevention Law’

The National Assembly's intelligence committee has decided to hold a public hearing next month about enacting anti-terrorism legislation. The National Intelligence Service (NIS), too, recently took the draft of a bill proposed by the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), revised it, and then passed its own version out to legislators. Truly absurd events are taking place. Something is really, really wrong when the NIS is talking about significantly increasing its authority at a time when there are calls for fundamental reform of the NIS, because its shameless illegal activities are being exposed one by one.

We think there should be no need to restate how the proposed "Terrorism Prevention Law" contains elements that infringe on human rights and the problems with enlarging the NIS's powers. The reason the legislation has failed several times to be enacted is because the concerns have led to the formation of a national consensus against it. Furthermore, the NIS revised a presidential order and since April of this year has already been operating a "terrorism information center." It already has enough authority in the area of intelligence and operations. You start to suspect that it wants to go on the offensive by going all out in trying to have the bill passed, in order to achieve a breakthrough in its organizational crisis resulting from its illegal eavesdropping activities. It is annoying to have the NIS so desperate to have the legislation passed and end up with actually have more status than it had before the eavesdropping case, and then to have the National Assembly playing to the same tune.

It goes without saying that the reason Korea has become a major potential terrorist target is because it has sent troops to Iraq. The fundamental solution to fears of terrorist attack, therefore, would be to get Korea's hands out of that unjustified war and withdrawing Korean troops from Iraq immediately. It is very regrettable that despite that fact, an attempt at the National Assembly's National Defense Committee to pass a resolution calling for a withdraw never even got to a vote because it lacked support. Right now the Assembly is not doing what it needs to do and doing what it should not.

The Hankyoreh, 7 November 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]