Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
Spy agency hit for sloppy reaction
Rep. Won Yoo-chul, left, floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, and his counterpart, Rep. Lee Jong-kul of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, discuss a hacking scandal involving the National Intelligence Service at the National Assembly, Tuesday. / Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) is being criticized for overreacting to suspicions that it spied on members of the public in 2012.
The agency issued a rare press release Friday to deny the allegations and blame politicians and unfriendly media outlets for jeopardizing national security.
Two days later, it issued a statement, which it claimed was signed by all NIS employees, blaming critics again and defending an intelligence officer who committed suicide while undergoing an internal audit for buying and operating spyware from an Italian tech firm.
Opposition lawmakers and experts are arguing that the spy agency’s rare activeness in handling the scandal has “gone beyond common sense.”
Both announcements were seen as efforts to prevent the NIS’s image from being hurt further. But critics say such actions have only deepened suspicions.
At the center of contention is the agency’s acknowledgment that it purchased spyware from the Italian firm, Hacking Team, in January and July of 2012.
The NIS denied allegations that the spyware, called Remote Control System (RCS), which can spy on PCs and smartphones, was used to carry out surveillance of citizens ahead of the presidential poll in December of that year. It claimed the real purpose was to analyze North Korea-related information.
The joint statement of the entire staff was issued a day after the officer, surnamed Lim, was found dead in his car. The motive for the suicide was unclear.
The statement claimed, “The officer (Lim) was a cyber expert who led the purchase of the spyware in 2012. He made clear (in his suicide note) that the NIS has never spied on citizens regarding election affairs. The people must take the testimony of the dead as it is.”
The statement seemed very rare, considering that members of an intelligence agency usually do not share their missions. The total number of its employees is also secret.
Rep. Lee Jong-kul, floor leader of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), said that the statement deserves to be international news.
“It is beyond common sense that an intelligence agency took group action openly,” he said. “Such an action can never occur without approval or direction of the NIS director.”
Lawyer Ahn Sang-hoon also said in his Facebook account that the joint statement of all employees is in clear violation of the National Public Service Law and the NIS Law that bans acting as a group and political intervention.
Critics are also calling into question Lim’s three-page suicide note in which he wrote that he “mistakenly” deleted data regarding the NIS’s “counterterrorism activities and secret operations on North Korea” as they could cause misunderstandings.
He wrote he decided to delete them as the agency’s reputation was more important than the possible impact that could be caused.
The question arising is why the officer deleted the files if he was confident about his argument that there was no monitoring of civilians or election affairs.
The NIS said it will completely restore the data to show it to lawmakers, but critics argued there is no way to prove that the agency has restored all the deleted files.
Rep. Shin Kyoung-min of the NPAD said, “We just don’t understand the deletion of the files. Then, how can we understand the complete restoration?”
Lawyer Lim Bang-geul also told reporters that suspicions still abound about why Lim committed suicide if the agency did not conduct surveillance of citizens, and whether any other people were involved in his death.
Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye