The head of the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee on Wednesday called for the screening of official documents that could confirm if late President Roh Moo-hyun disavowed the de facto sea-border between the two Koreas.
Rep. Suh Sang-kee told reporters he plans to arrange a closed door examination of the official dialogue transcripts between Roh and late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il at the 2007 summit.
"There are rising public suspicions on whether or not Roh made the comments," the Saenuri lawmaker said. He added the public has the right to know if the chief executive actually made the remarks about the Northern Limit Line (NLL).
Earlier in the month, Rep. Chung Moon-joon claimed that Roh verbally disavowed the legitimacy of the NLL and also agreed to provide massive aid for the communist country. The conservative lawmaker also said Roh sympathized with efforts by the North to pursue a nuclear weapons program, and offered to remove all U.S. troops from Seoul and the neighboring regions.
Suh said looking over the official transcripts is the easiest way to get to the bottom of the allegations raised, because the diplomatic documents are classified as top secret, and can only be inspected if two-thirds of all lawmakers agree to the screening process.
"This examination method can alleviate concerns that checking the transcripts could violate diplomatic protocol and complicate future inter-Korean relations, since lawmakers will just see if Roh made the NLL remarks," he said.
The committee chairman said he plans to ask both ruling and opposition members of the parliamentary committee for their approval, so the controversy can be put to rest once and for all.
Related to the proposal, Saenuri spokesman Lee Sang-il citing a local media report, claimed Roh, who left office in early 2008, had ordered the destruction of all secret files. He, however, said the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had ignored the order.
"Of the two originals, the NIS document seems to have been preserved and can now be examined," he said.
The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), meanwhile, maintained that Saenuri was spreading lies. It pointed out that while it opposed opening a parliamentary probe, the party's presidential hopeful Moon Jae-in said he will agree to an examination of documents if Saenuri's presidential candidate Park Geun-hye accepted responsibility in the event the claims made were untrue.
"Our position on this is clear," said party spokeswoman Kim Hyun, stressing it is not trying to hide anything.
She pointed out that Chung's accusations were based on lies and that the conservative party was using the NLL issue to tarnish the image of the DUP candidate.
Moon was Roh's chief of staff and arranged the inter-Korean meeting.
Kim said the DUP referred Chung to state prosecutors and she called on the conservative party to desist from future mud-slinging that has hurt the public's interest in politics. (Yonhap)