Cheong Wa Dae staffer probed over website attack

By Na Jeong-ju

Police said Friday a Cheong Wa Dae staffer dined with key suspects of a cyber attack that crashed the website of the country’s election watchdog during the Oct. 26 by-elections, one day before the act.

The announcement suggests the possible involvement of presidential aides in the crime, which opposition parties say has shaken the foundation of the country’s democracy. Police, however, made it clear that as yet they have no hard evidence proving any implication of the presidential office or the ruling Grand National Party (GNP).

Police referred the case to the prosecution for further investigation. The prosecution said it has formed a special team, comprising some 40 investigators, to look into it.

The incident has dealt a severe setback to the ruling camp amid expectations that it may negatively affect their preparations for next year’s general election and the presidential race. According to police, the Cheong Wa Dae staffer, identified as Park, met with those who reportedly discussed the website attack with GNP lawmaker Choi Gu-sik’s former secretary Gong Hyun-min, 27, just hours before Gong ordered the homepage to be hacked.

Police said Gong confessed to the crime, but denied the involvement of others from the governing camp.

“Gong told us that he masterminded the attack and he is the solely to blame,” said Hwang Un-ha, a senior investigator at the National Police Agency. “Park also maintained that he had nothing to do with the crime.”

Gong said he had believed the attack would help the GNP candidate for the Seoul mayoral race, Na Kyung-won, and assist Choi as well. Choi was one of Na’s key campaigners for the by-elections. Na ultimately lost to unified opposition candidate Park Won-soon, whose official website was also hacked by Gong later on the same day.

Despite the police explanations, many questions still remain unanswered. Police themselves also came under fire for allegedly going easy on figures with political backgrounds when examining the case.

Gong said he had hired a local Internet firm, owned by his friend, to attack the website of the National Election Commission (NEC) and Park’s homepage. Internet security experts say such an act costs at least 200 million won ($177,000). Gong’s monthly salary was less than 2 million won.

Some opposition lawmakers have also claimed that the NEC and the National Intelligence Service could have blocked the attack but didn’t.

While the hacking was underway, Gong had six phone conversations with National Assembly Speaker and former GNP Chairman Park Hee-tae’s former secretary, surnamed Kim, to discuss the incident.

Kim met with Cheong Wa Dae official Park and the secretaries of GNP lawmakers Gong Sung-jin and Chung Doo-un one day before the attack, police said. They, however, claimed they never talked about the attack at the meeting.

Gong and Kim both recently quit their jobs as secretaries after the police began their investigation.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr