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| Former President Lee Myung-bak looks down while walking into his office building in Gangnam, Seoul, Sept. 29. He criticized the Moon Jae-in government for its policy aimed to eradicate "deep-rooted social evils," which he called political retaliation, on Facebook earlier in the day. / Yonhap |
Allegations of ex-president's abuse of power grow
By Kim Hyo-jin
Attention is high over whether former President Lee Myung-bak will face the prosecution's investigation over alleged abuse of power, four and a half years after his term ended.
With a series of recent revelations ― documents showing Cheong Wa Dae's attempts to control the media, the military's online smear campaigns against opposition candidates and a blacklist of artists ― Lee emerged as the core of multiple allegations.
He is further losing ground as liberal President Moon Jae-in pushes for his top campaign pledge of eradicating deep-rooted social evils, which he believes were largely committed under his two conservative predecessors, Lee and Park Geun-hye.
Spy agency
A reform panel was set up in the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in July to look deeper into suspicions on the agency's alleged illegal activities under the previous governments.
It soon found out the agency had operated 46 extra-departmental teams comprised of civilians to engage in online activities in a bid to sway public opinion on politically divisive issues during general and presidential elections from 2009 to 2012. Min Byung-joo, who led the NIS psychological warfare unit, was arrested in September for operating the teams and soon admitted to his charge.
The reform panel also unveiled that the spy agency under the Lee administration created and managed a blacklist of anti-government cultural figures.
The NIS formed a taskforce specialized in this mission and allegedly limited those on the blacklist professionally and even kicked them out of their fields, the panel said.
The prosecution started calling in some of the victims ― 82 listed figures ― including actor Moon Sung-keun and comedian Kim Mi-hwa, and investigated the extent of the effect on their careers.
The agency's attempts to consolidate the government's authority even extended to politicians and liberal-minded professors.
The reform panel found the NIS had left hundreds of comments and posts slandering Lee's critics on a progressive portal site and social media.
Among the targets were late former President Roh Moo-hyun, then-Incheon Mayor Song Young-gil, Rep. Park Jie-won, and Seoul National University professor Cho Kuk who currently serves as senior presidential secretary for civil affairs. It took aim not only at opposition politicians but also at reformist politicians in the ruling party.
The reform panel requested the prosecution to investigate such activities Sept. 29.
The probe into the NIS's political maneuvering is only in the burgeoning stage. With the NIS panel's additional revelations and requests, the prosecution is likely to expand its investigations.
The prosecution seeks to wrap up its probe by the end of this month but is also considering extending the period if needed.
Some watchers expect the prosecution will soon take aim at ex-President Lee anyway, despite difficulties obtaining evidence of Lee directly ordering the NIS's political meddling.
Hinting at such a possibility, Justice Minister Park Sang-ki mentioned the ongoing probe, saying "There cannot be, and should not be, any limitations on investigating a top-level figure."
Meanwhile, the prosecution obtained documents showing the military's cyberwarfare command engaged in online smear campaigns during the 2012 general and presidential elections.
The documents include the fact the cyberwarfare command reported its activities to then-Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and even to Cheong Wa Dae through the military's communications network designed only to send confidential information.
Kim has been banned from leaving the country due to the investigation.
More suspicions
If the prosecution reopens an investigation into the BBK stock price manipulation scandal Lee was involved in, he could be further cornered.
Rep. Park Young-sun of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) requested reopening the case to the justice minister during a Sept. 14 Assembly interpellation session, calling into question the previous evidence that didn't show Lee was involved in the scandal.
The investment company BBK caused 5,500 investors to lose about 100 billion won in the early 2000s. During the 2007 presidential election, Lee was accused of creating slush funds through the financial scam and being the de facto owner of the company.
Kim Kyung-joon, the alleged main culprit of the incident, entered the country before the presidential ballot, with the intention of revealing evidence that Lee was his accomplice.
The Grand National Party, a predecessor to the current Liberty Korea Party, defended its presidential candidate Lee with a letter indicating Kim had a connection to Cheong Wa Dae and his entry was staged to thwart Lee's campaign.
Rep. Park said the letter was fabricated and an independent counsel made the wrong conclusion that Lee was innocent, raising the possibility Lee's camp could have been involved in the fabrication of the letter.
Justice Minister Park replied to the lawmaker, "I will deeply consider the option if any new clues come up."
The Four Major Rivers Restoration Project pushed by Lee could also be a sticking point for him.
The Lee government spent more than 22 trillion won to upgrade and repair the nation's four major rivers ― the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan ― but caused many ecological problems.
Over the past three months, the Board of Audit and Inspection has been looking into possible illegalities in the process of the project.
Backlash
Lee's aides and confidants strongly protested the recent move by the ruling bloc, calling it "political retaliation."
"I'd like to ask what all these are for?" said Rep. Choung Byoung-gug of the Bareun Party, who was once categorized as a member of the pro-Lee faction. "Blood will have blood. In the end, the so-called eradication of deep-rooted evils will only leave division and conflict."
Lee also stepped forward, expressing his opinion publicly. "This regressive attempt is not only harming national interests but also doomed to fail," he wrote on Facebook, Sept. 28. "I will have a chance to speak to the people when the time comes."
Regardless of how the accused figures frame it, the general public sentiment appears to have tilted to further probe into the former president.
In a Hankook Research poll conducted between Sept. 29 and 30, 77.9 percent of respondents said the prosecution should investigate Lee while 18.5 percent said it is not necessary.
While 70.7 percent viewed the ongoing investigation as a "just probe," targeting affairs needing clarification; only 27.4 percent saw it as "political retaliation" targeting the previous government.
The DPK is set to dig deeper into allegations surrounding the Lee administration during the National Assembly government audits scheduled between Oct. 12 and 31.
"We need to correct the past misdeeds through the audits," the party's floor leader Woo Won-shik said. "The upcoming audits will be an important process of clearing out the deep-rooted evils of society."
The ruling bloc is expected to pull a strong drive to this mission, partly because the resurfacing of allegations came just in the nick of time.
It appears to provide breathing room for the Moon administration that has been grilled by the opposition for mishandling North Korea issues following a series of nuclear and missile provocations.
In a Realmeter poll conducted on 2,523 respondents in the fourth week of September, Moon's support rate rebounded to 67.7 percent, up 2.1 percentage points from the previous week, the first increase in five weeks.
The pollster analyzed that public attention was shifted to the murky past of the former conservative government, while the controversy on Moon's policy direction with North Korea had died down.
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