By Kim Hyo-jin
Rival parties continued to trade barbs Monday over allegations that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) conducted illegal surveillance on citizens.
The ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) agreed last week to hold a session with surveillance experts at the NIS headquarters Thursday.
The NPAD has urged the intelligence agency to submit records about surveillance software it purchased from the Italian firm Hacking Team in 2012 in advance. They include all restored data as well as the log files of the program which could access private digital content on phones and computers.
The NIS, however, rejected the demand, dimming the prospects for the session.
"It is meaningless to hold a session there without having necessary information for technical analysis," NPAD lawmaker Shin Kyoung-min, a member of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, said during a press briefing, Monday, hinting at the possibility of boycotting the session. "We will ask the agency to disclose the data once again."
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, the head of the party's fact-finding panel, also raised his voice against the NIS, saying, "The situation now is like IT experts given a blank paper being forced to discuss the matter."
Meanwhile, the Saenuri Party slammed the NPAD's move, saying it is not cooperating with the Assembly's efforts to clear the suspicions in the scandal.
"I hope it doesn't have a malicious intention to strategically prolong the controversy," Rep. Kim Jung-hoon of the Saenuri Party said during a party meeting, Tuesday. "It should stop pressuring the nation's top intelligence agency to unveil state secrets just for political interests."
Rep. Lee Cheol-woo, a member of the Assembly's intelligence committee, echoed a similar view, saying it is making an "excessive request."
"The NIS already provided the most of the records the NPAD demanded," he said. "It is impossible to disclose the original hard disk. But some of the data can be provided during the session at the headquarters."
An NIS agent surnamed Lim deleted files before committing suicide on July 16, saying it was done out of fear that they could cause misunderstandings related to the agency's North Korea-related operations.
Later, the agency said it restored all deleted files and that they showed no evidence that there was surveillance on citizens.
Rival parties continued to trade barbs Monday over allegations that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) conducted illegal surveillance on citizens.
The ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) agreed last week to hold a session with surveillance experts at the NIS headquarters Thursday.
The NPAD has urged the intelligence agency to submit records about surveillance software it purchased from the Italian firm Hacking Team in 2012 in advance. They include all restored data as well as the log files of the program which could access private digital content on phones and computers.
The NIS, however, rejected the demand, dimming the prospects for the session.
"It is meaningless to hold a session there without having necessary information for technical analysis," NPAD lawmaker Shin Kyoung-min, a member of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, said during a press briefing, Monday, hinting at the possibility of boycotting the session. "We will ask the agency to disclose the data once again."
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, the head of the party's fact-finding panel, also raised his voice against the NIS, saying, "The situation now is like IT experts given a blank paper being forced to discuss the matter."
Meanwhile, the Saenuri Party slammed the NPAD's move, saying it is not cooperating with the Assembly's efforts to clear the suspicions in the scandal.
"I hope it doesn't have a malicious intention to strategically prolong the controversy," Rep. Kim Jung-hoon of the Saenuri Party said during a party meeting, Tuesday. "It should stop pressuring the nation's top intelligence agency to unveil state secrets just for political interests."
Rep. Lee Cheol-woo, a member of the Assembly's intelligence committee, echoed a similar view, saying it is making an "excessive request."
"The NIS already provided the most of the records the NPAD demanded," he said. "It is impossible to disclose the original hard disk. But some of the data can be provided during the session at the headquarters."
An NIS agent surnamed Lim deleted files before committing suicide on July 16, saying it was done out of fear that they could cause misunderstandings related to the agency's North Korea-related operations.
Later, the agency said it restored all deleted files and that they showed no evidence that there was surveillance on citizens.
