NIS: "No Illegal Surveillance Orders from DJ or Participatory Government at Regime Level"

No Evidence of Park Hyung-jun's Connection to MB Government's Illegal Surveillance
"Cannot Confirm Direct Request" vs "Direct Delivery Is Customary"
Resolution for Disclosure of NIS Illegal Surveillance Information Sent to Agenda Coordination Committee

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] The National Intelligence Service (NIS) announced on the 15th that it will "pursue meaningful results within a month" regarding personal surveillance during the Lee Myung-bak administration. The NIS explained that illegal surveillance during the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations was due to employees' deviations, not orders from the government. Whether Park Hyung-jun, the People Power Party candidate for Busan mayor (then the Blue House Public Relations Planning Officer), received reports on illegal surveillance was only mentioned circumstantially, and the facts have not been revealed.

Park Ji-won, Director of the National Intelligence Service, attended the full meeting of the Intelligence Committee held at the National Assembly on the 15th and checked the time before the meeting started. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The National Assembly Intelligence Committee held a plenary meeting on the same day with Park Ji-won, head of the NIS, and others in attendance. After the meeting, Kim Byung-gi, a Democratic Party member and floor leader of the Intelligence Committee, and Ha Tae-kyung, a People Power Party member, briefed the press accordingly.

Rep. Kim said, "From February 17, after receiving progress reports for a month, many ruling party lawmakers questioned and criticized the lack of active formation of a special task force (TF) or thorough investigation," adding, "The Intelligence Committee has also notified that if progress remains slow or passive over about two weeks, it will decide on document verification under the law concerning testimony and inspection in the National Assembly."

Regarding illegal surveillance by past administrations, Rep. Ha stated, "Illegal surveillance by the NIS occurred not only during the Lee Myung-bak administration but also under the Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, and Park Geun-hye administrations," and added, "The problem is that during the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations, they ordered not to do this, but the NIS carried it out as a personal deviation and practice; the Lee Myung-bak administration ordered it at the government level, and the NIS's official response is that they do not know whether the Park Geun-hye administration ordered it at the government level or not."

As of noon on the same day, the NIS announced that it had received 171 information disclosure requests (160 individuals, 11 organizations) and completed processing 102 cases (92 individuals, 10 organizations). The remaining 69 cases (69 individuals, 1 organization) are currently being processed.

Regarding whether Park Hyung-jun requested illegal surveillance information from the Lee Myung-bak administration period, the NIS did not provide specific confirmation. Rep. Ha said, "When asked if there was evidence that Park directly requested it as the Blue House Public Relations Planning Officer, they said there was none." However, during the Kim Dae-jung administration, there was a practice of reporting directly to the chief, but it is unknown what the practice was during the Lee Myung-bak administration. Even if the Public Relations Planning Officer was the recipient, it is uncertain whether Park directly received it.

However, Rep. Kim said, "When a request comes from the Blue House, they verify the requester and prepare the report," adding, "If there is information about the identity, there is no exception that it was delivered as a confidential document."

Meanwhile, Rep. Kim stated regarding the 'Special Resolution Urging Disclosure of Surveillance Information by National Intelligence Agencies, Truth Investigation, and Prevention of Recurrence,' "The opposition party requested referral to the Agenda Coordination Committee, so it was referred as of today." Rep. Ha explained, "The referral to the Agenda Coordination Committee was to prevent the NIS from becoming the center of political conflict while the law prohibiting political involvement of the NIS is still fresh, and to avoid the NIS being at the center of election-related issues ahead of the election, which is undesirable for the NIS."

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