Controversy persists over NIS scandal

By Jun Ji-hye

The ruling and opposition parties have given contrasting reactions to allegations that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) spied on citizens in 2012 during the run-up to the presidential election.

The controversy deepened after an intelligence officer surnamed Lim committed suicide Saturday when lawmakers were planning to visit and inspect the agency for buying and operating spyware from an Italian tech firm, Hacking Team (HT).

A civic alliance led by Minbyun, or Lawyers for a Democratic Society, said Wednesday that they will file a complaint with the prosecution against former and incumbent directors of the NIS, Won Sei-hoon and Lee Byung-ho.

They claim that the NIS spread malignant spyware and unlawfully carried out surveillance on people without warrants.

Here are some points of conflict between the rival parties.

Did the NIS break the law?

The biggest conflict in the views of rival parties is whether the nation’s spy agency actually spied on citizens.

Suspicions that this occurred arose because of the timing of the purchase of spyware called Remote Control System (RCS), which can spy on PCs and smartphones. This was done in January and July of 2012, ahead of the presidential poll in December.

NIS director Lee told lawmakers last week that there was no surveillance of civilians or election affairs, and the real purpose of the purchase was to analyze North Korea-related information.

The ruling Saenuri Party is standing with the NIS and said that the purchase was made to enhance national security and study new types of threats in cyber space.

Rep. Lee Cheol-woo said, “97 intelligence and investigative agencies in 35 countries signed contracts with HT in that period of time,” denouncing the argument that the NIS used the technology to produce beneficial results for the governing party in the election.

But the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) gave weight to suspicions citizens were monitored, citing the fact that the agency did not report the purchase to the National Assembly Intelligence Committee.

Rep. Shin Kyoung-min of the NPAD claimed it is hard to believe the NIS’s argument because data leaked from HT included log-on information on 138 South Korea-based Internet IP addresses of KT, KBS, Seoul National University and Daum Kakao.

Why did the agent kill himself?

Parties also differed over what motivated the NIS agent to commit suicide.

The spy agency and the governing party argued that Lim died under pressure over the opposition parties’ political attack on the mission of which he was in charge.

The NPAD rebutted the argument, calling it an “unreasonable explanation.”

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, who chairs the NPAD’s fact-finding committee on the case, said: “The death of the agent is inevitably causing additional suspicions.”

Rivals have produced different interpretations of Lim's three-page suicide note as well, especially about why he deleted relevant files before committing suicide.

The Saenuri Party says it sympathized with the content of Lim’s note in which he wrote that he deleted data regarding the NIS’s “counterterrorism activities and secret operations on North Korea” because it could cause misunderstanding.

But the NPAD argued there was no need to delete them if there was no monitoring of civilians.

Dispute over NIS visit

The two major parties are also showing differences over the timing of the on-the-spot inspection.

The ruling party wants to visit and inspect the NIS at the earliest possible date, while the NPAD is calling for hearings and a parliamentary investigation to be carried out first.

The governing party criticized the NPAD, arguing it is trying to drag out time as the issue is apparently favorable to the opposition bloc.

Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye