United Future Party: "Suspend Park Ji-won's Appointment - Investigate Secret Agreement with a State Audit"

Joo Ho-young: "The Document Source Is a Former Senior Official"
Political Sphere's Truth Dispute Over 'Secret North Korea Agreement'
Ruling Party Likely to Unilaterally Approve Hearing Report on the 28th Afternoon

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] The United Future Party has demanded the suspension of the appointment of Park Ji-won, the nominee for the Director of the National Intelligence Service, and a parliamentary investigation into the '30 billion dollar secret agreement with North Korea.' Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the United Future Party, newly revealed that the document's source was a former high-ranking official. The focus of the confirmation hearing, which was initially on academic fraud, has expanded into a controversy over the truth of the secret agreement with North Korea, intensifying the debate.

Ha Tae-kyung, the opposition party's ranking member of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee and a member of the United Future Party, held a press conference on the 28th just before the full committee meeting, stating, "President Moon Jae-in should withhold the appointment of the NIS director until the authenticity of the secret agreement is verified." Floor leader Joo said about the source of the secret agreement document, "It is a reliable former high-ranking official," adding, "I will only say that much." He emphasized, "The public must be fully informed whether such an issue was screened in advance when appointing such a nationally important position as the NIS director."

Rep. Ha said, "If the appointment is made without verifying the authenticity, a major national security crisis could arise," adding, "The authenticity is directly linked to the position of the NIS director. In other words, it would mean that North Korea holds the appointment power of the NIS director." He argued that if the secret agreement exists, North Korea could use it as a card to threaten Park in the future. In response to the United Future Party's demand, Kim Byung-gi, the ruling party's ranking member of the Intelligence Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "It will take a long time to verify the authenticity, and unless there is a prosecution investigation, it will not be revealed," adding, "After the 11 a.m. floor leaders' meeting, I plan to ask the chairman to make a conclusion at 2 p.m."

Rep. Ha said, "It is not difficult for President Moon to verify the authenticity. He can ask Suh Hoon, the National Security Office chief who was present at the time," and urged, "I call on the Democratic Party to support a parliamentary investigation to verify the authenticity." Regarding the academic fraud discussion about Park, Rep. Ha said, "The Ministry of Education should immediately start an audit," adding, "Since Park also expressed at the previous hearing that he does not oppose it, there is no reason for the Minister of Education not to conduct an academic fraud audit."

Rep. Ha criticized, "Park's answers are not trustworthy. His statements changed four times," explaining, "When Park first presented the secret agreement, he immediately denied it was true. At the second inquiry, he said he did not remember. When questioned again in the afternoon, he said it was forged. At the evening closed hearing, he said discussions took place but no agreement document was drafted."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The United Future Party claimed at the previous day's confirmation hearing that Park signed the 'April 8 Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Agreement,' which separately provided a total of 3 billion dollars to North Korea during the process of the June 15, 2000 Inter-Korean Summit. The copy of the agreement released by the party included provisions such as ▲ providing 2.5 billion dollars in investment and economic cooperation loans to North Korea's social overhead capital sector over three years starting June 2000 ▲ the South providing 500 million dollars in connection with the Inter-Korean Summit. The signatures of Park, who was the South's special envoy at the time, and Song Ho-kyung, Vice Chairman of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, were on the document. Park countered, saying, "The signatures were forged to slander me and former President Kim Dae-jung," and added, "I will request an investigation by the authorities."

The April 8 Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Agreement remained a contentious issue even after the confirmation hearing was switched to a closed session. At that time, Park acknowledged that during discussions with the North, it was mentioned that if inter-Korean cooperation proceeded after the summit, investments of 2 to 3 billion dollars could be made through the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and private companies. The United Future Party interpreted this as "an admission of the secret agreement discussion," but Park denied, saying, "I never said I would provide money."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.