Ex-spy agency chief grilled over corruption

Nam Jae-joon, former chief of the National Intelligence Service, speaks to reporters as he enters the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

Nam Jae-joon, former chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), underwent questioning Wednesday over allegations the spy agency bribed key aides of former President Park Geun-hye while she was in office.

Nam, who served the post from March 2013 to May 2014, is suspected of offering hundreds of millions of won (hundreds of thousands of dollars) in bribes to three former presidential secretaries ― Ahn Bong-geun, Lee Jae-man and Jeong Ho-seong.

He is one of the three former NIS chiefs facing the accusation.

Nam is also suspected of being involved in deceiving prosecutors in a scheme to derail their investigation into the NIS' smear campaign against Moon Jae-in in the 2012 presidential election.

For that task, the NIS formed a special team consisting of its officials and three prosecutors who were on detached duty there at that time. One of the things they did was set up a fake NIS office while the prosecution was investigating the case.

Over the suspicion, two NIS officials and two prosecutors have been arrested. But two others ― an NIS lawyer and a prosecutor ― committed suicide amid a widening probe.

Speaking to reporters near the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul, Nam criticized the prosecution, which has ― since Moon took power this May ― been investigating the NIS' illegal activities under the previous two right-wing governments.

"NIS officials are the last bastion of the nation's liberal democracy and are the bravest warriors," he said as he entered the office for questioning. "They all deserve the most praise for their sacrifice and hard work. But two of them committed suicide over the investigation. I feel heartbroken. I would like to offer my condolences to the victims and their families."

The three former presidential aides ― known as Park's closest ― have admitted to receiving money from the NIS, though they refused to reveal all the details.

Three other former presidential aides ― Cho Yoon-sun, Hyun Ki-hwan and Shin Dong-chul ― are also accused of receiving NIS money. While Cho and Hyun allegedly each pocketed 5 million won a month for one year, Shin allegedly took 3 million won every month for about two years.

The prosecution is soon expected to summon two other former NIS chiefs ― Lee Byeong-ho and Lee Byung-kee ― for questioning.

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