I am an editorial writer at The Korea Times, focusing on foreign policy, North Korea and domestic politics. My key areas of interest include North Korea, foreign interference in elections, election integrity, cyberattacks and human rights. Prior to joining the Editorial Board, I served as both Politics Desk editor and Culture Desk editor. During my career, I have reported on the Presidential Office under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly.
INTERVIEW Ex-NIS chief urges politicians to stop exploiting spy agency
Nam Jae-joon, former director of the National Intelligence Service (2013-2014), looks out during an interview with The Korea Times at his residence in Seoul's southern district of Songpa, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Former spymaster says agency will play greater role in future
A blame game is in full swing after Korea lost to Saudi Arabia in a bid to host the World Expo 2030 in a vote held in Paris, France on Nov. 28.
Despite President Yoon Suk Yeol’s energetic pitch to host the expo in Busan, Korea secured only 29 votes in the first round of voting, far behind its rival which won 119 votes. Saudi Arabia was declared the winner without a run-off vote as it earned over two-thirds of the ballots in the first round of voting.
The shocking results caused a stir and triggered intense soul-searching in Korea to find out what went wrong. A witch hunt also ensued to find out who was primarily responsible for the crushing defeat.
An intelligence failure and the gathering of inaccurate information have been suggested as two possible reasons that led the presidential office to be erroneously optimistic about the odds of Korea winning the bid.
Nam Jae-joon, a retired four-star general and the former director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) (2013-2014), said inaccurate intelligence sounds like a more plausible reason.
“An intelligence failure is not the source of the problem,” he said during an interview with The Korea Times on Tuesday. “If people are blaming the NIS for intelligence failure, they are wrong. The NIS would probably have had accurate information about how the voting results would turn out.”
According to Nam, the NIS agents would have gathered and analyzed intelligence properly and reported it to their boss and all the way to the president.
Korea’s unsuccessful expo bid came as the NIS reels from the consequences of a power struggle.
As its title suggests, the spy agency is supposed to work secretly to live up to its mission of safeguarding the nation from various threats, including covert and overt operations by other governments targeting Korea.
But recently, the NIS did the exact opposite.
The intelligence agency attracted unwanted attention from the public as rumors about a power struggle between the NIS director and other key officials were leaked to media outlets since June.
There has been contradicting media coverage of the agency. One media outlet reported that the first vice director would be replaced, describing him as a troublemaker, while another said the NIS director was unable to control the intelligence agency. The contrasting media reports indicated that the two sides leaked internal information to attack the other side.
The infighting enraged Yoon.
He sacked NIS Director Kim Kyu-hyun and replaced two deputy directors in late November as soon as he returned to Seoul from a state visit to the United Kingdom and last-minute pitch to rally support from other countries in the expo bid in Paris.
Ex-NIS Director Nam Jae-joon speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his residence in Seoul's southern district of Songpa, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Nam said it was very inappropriate for the intelligence agency to make headlines for infighting.
“Speaking from my own experience as a spymaster, the NIS is an elite organization and agents there are ready to sacrifice themselves for the nation. They are all dedicated warriors,” he said. “If any problems occur about the agency, that’s probably because of a person who oversees the agency and not the NIS agents.”
He used a bus analogy to pinpoint who is ultimately responsible for the problem at the NIS.
“Let’s suppose there’s a bus. One day, the bus went in the wrong direction until it was stuck in the middle of nowhere. Who do you think is responsible for the incident?... The answer is the driver, not the bus,” he said.
He said the president needs to pick the right person to be the NIS director.
Nam said a spymaster is very different from other Cabinet ministers in terns of roles.
“Diplomats, for example, are people who negotiate with their counterparts, and if necessary, they make concessions to reach an agreement. But this is not the case for the NIS,” he said. “The intelligence service is not supposed to make concessions, as far as national interests are concerned. NIS agents risk their lives to protect the country from threats. Unlike battlefield theaters, there is no bloodshed but their operations are as severe as wartime military operations.”
The former intelligence chief criticized politicians for using the NIS to safeguard their personal interests.
“Korea will pay the price unless political leaders stop using the spy agency for their own goals. They need to let the NIS work to fulfill its duty to protect the nation from threats, instead of using it as an institution to help them realize their personal interests,” he said.
Nam blamed politicians for pushing the intelligence agency to meddle in areas that are not in its jurisdiction.
“Their hands are tied,” he said. “But whenever or whatever happens, politicians bash the NIS. Politicians criticize the NIS when the intelligence agency investigates fellow politicians who violated the National Security Act. They claim they are the victims of political oppression. This is nonsense. They are criminals,” he said.
He said the intelligence agency will play a greater role in government in the future to thwart various threats created by technologies, and therefore politicians need to help the NIS focus on its duty.
Nam served as the first NIS director of the Park Geun-hye government (2013-2017). He said he got a phone call in early 2013 from Park, who was President-elect at the time, telling him to be the NIS director. She did not even ask if he was willing to take her offer, so he said he had to accept without having time to think about it.
His tenure, however, ended in May 2014, just over a year after he took the job.
Nam declined to go into detail about why he was dismissed, saying in media interviews at the time that he was leaving because he was told to quit.
Park's tenure was cut short after she was impeached by the Constitutional Court in March 2017.
Two former NIS officials contacted by this reporter said Nam is one of the best spymasters they had worked for, echoing that he is a patriot and always put national interests first.
Ex-spymaster Nam Jae-joon poses during an interview with The Korea Times at his residence in Seoul's southern district of Songpa, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul