Democratic Party's Largest Faction 'Deo Joeun Mirae' Calls for Special Legislation to Investigate Illegal Surveillance Truth

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] 'The Better Future,' the largest policy opinion and political action group within the Democratic Party of Korea, is launching special legislation to investigate the illegal surveillance by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

On the 18th, The Better Future stated in a press release, "We strongly condemn the heinous criminal acts of the intelligence agency that threatened the basic rights of the people and democracy by conducting surveillance and political manipulation. We declare our plan to work with the party to initiate special legislation to uncover the truth about illegal civilian surveillance."

They added, "We urge the opposition parties to set aside partisan views and join the efforts to restore democracy through fact-finding and prevention of recurrence."

Before enacting the law, they also demanded the disclosure of information and investigation by the NIS. The Better Future said, "We urge Park Jie-won, Director of the National Intelligence Service, to immediately disclose all surveillance information and promptly establish the 'Committee for Truth Investigation and Prevention of Illegal Surveillance,' composed of victims, civic groups, and experts, to begin self-purification efforts without delay."

They pointed out that the NIS has been consistently passive, selectively disclosing only a very small portion of the illegal surveillance details to information disclosure applicants and organizations.

The Better Future stated, "The NIS mostly decides to withhold information on cases requested for disclosure, citing reasons that the subjects are not identified. Even for a few identified documents, they delete most content under the pretext of protecting third-party personal information, releasing only empty shells of information. This ignores the demands of the people and the times who seek fundamental and comprehensive reform of power institutions."

They continued, "If the NIS truly reflects on its past mistakes and wants to reform, it must abandon a passive stance of waiting for parliamentary resolutions or legislation and instead take an active and proactive approach to fully disclose past wrongdoings and meticulously prepare measures to prevent recurrence."

The Better Future is led by Representative Wi Seong-gon and includes many members of the so-called 86 Generation, such as Representative Woo Sang-ho, who is running for Seoul mayor in the by-election, and Minister of Unification Lee In-young. Below is the list of affiliated members.

Wi Seong-gon, Kang Hoon-sik, Ko Young-in, Kwon In-sook, Ki Dong-min, Kim Kyung-man, Kim Sung-joo, Kim Sung-hwan, Kim Seung-nam, Kim Young-bae, Kim Young-ho, Kim Yong-min, Kim Won-i, Nam In-soon, Do Jong-hwan, Min Byung-duk, Park Wan-joo, Park Hong-geun, Baek Hye-ryun, Seo Dong-yong, Song Gap-seok, Shin Dong-geun, Shin Jeong-hoon, Ahn Ho-young, Oh Ki-hyung, Oh Young-hoon, Woo Sang-ho, Woo Won-shik, Yoon Kwan-seok, Yoon Mi-hyang, Yoon Young-duk, Lee Dong-joo, Lee Soo-jin (proportional), Lee Yong-bin, Lee Yong-seon, Lee In-young, Lee Jae-jung, Lee Hak-young, Lee Hae-sik, Jung Chun-sook, Jung Pil-mo, Jo Seung-rae, Jo Oh-seop, Jin Sun-mi, Jin Sung-jun, Cheon Jun-ho, Choi Ki-sang, Han Jun-ho, Heo Young, Hong Ik-pyo, Hong Jeong-min

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