By Lee Tae-hoon
Files and documents thrown out from lawmakers’ offices in the National Assembly included sensitive information about the Army’s new border patrol system and night-time detection devices, the type that filmed the ill-fated Cheonan frigate, sunk by North Korea.
The hallways littered with piles of documents were cleared after The Korea Times’ report that sensitive documents were left unattended outside the offices of Rep. Chung Ui-hwa, a five-term lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party, and Kim Jang-soo, a former defense minister and Saenuri Party lawmaker.,
One document labeled with the warning “Extra Caution” and titled “Scientific Surveillance System at GOP” (guard observation posts) reveals the country’s plan to install an unmanned sentry system.
Moreover, it contains a handwritten memo that indicates how many of sets of the automated surveillance and control devices will be installed and the name of the division to receive them.
The document clearly states that it contains information that can cause harm to national security and it must be destroyed after use.
Among the documents that the paper picked up from the corridors were two manuals of the “Thermal Observation Device (TOD)” that recorded the sinking of the warship Cheonan on March 26, 2010.
It also comes with a warning that the military handbooks should be handled with extra caution. The two books reveal how the TOD is operated in detail and what capability the military thermal imaging and recording has.
“Imagine North Korean spies have obtained the manuals,” a senior military official said asking for anonymity. “They will not only master how the surveillance system works, but also learn how to avoid being caught by the cutting edge-device or try to emulate the system.”
A report by the Command Center of the Joint Chiefs of Staff discloses the list and number of weapons that the Cheonan carried, including Harpoon anti-ship missiles and Mistral surface-to-air missiles.
Moreover, some of the reports, marked “confidential,” show the country’s arms purchase plans with memos that show specific deployment dates and the number of planned purchases, something that weapons dealers may pay more than tens of thousand dollars to obtain.
Lawmakers of both ruling and opposition parties have remained silent over the issue, apparently preoccupied with political wrangling over the opening of the 19th National Assembly.