Police Agency: "Information Collection Prohibited Since Participatory Government... Any Such Data Is Illegal Surveillance Information"

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] The National Police Agency stated that if there was information gathering targeting civilians during the Lee Myung-bak administration, it would be considered 'illegal surveillance.' The National Police Agency plans to verify whether there is any illegal surveillance information through the police agency's servers and other means.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 17th, Kim Byung-gi of the Democratic Party of Korea and Ha Tae-kyung of the People Power Party, the floor leaders of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, conveyed this during a briefing after a work report to the National Police Agency.

Rep. Kim said, "Police Commissioner Kim Chang-ryong prohibited information gathering related to the police immediately after the Roh Moo-hyun administration, so there has been no official information gathering since then," adding, "If there was any, it would be considered a personal deviation and illegal surveillance information."

Rep. Ha said, "I asked whether the police still have the data or if it has been discarded, and the answer today was that, in principle, data is discarded after review," adding, "Information unrelated to duties is deleted after review, so the official position is that it no longer exists."

However, there were also indications suggesting the possibility of illegal surveillance of civilians continuing during the Park Geun-hye administration following the Lee Myung-bak administration.

Rep. Kim said, "On May 23, 2019, there was a media report that the Blue House during the Park Geun-hye administration used intelligence police for political attacks, and the National Police Agency acknowledged this," adding, "Considering this, it is reasonable to suspect that the directive from December 2009 during the Lee Myung-bak administration continued into the Park Geun-hye administration."

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