ed Reining in spy agency

Scandal must be occasion for complete overhaul of NIS

When general-turned-President Park Chung-hee set up the Korea Central Intelligence Agency in 1961, its main duty was to ferret out “anti-revolutionary elements.” The scandals and controversies surrounding its current form, the National Intelligence Service, illustrates that the state spy agency still has a long way to go before breaking away from its historically established role as the ``handmaiden of political power.”

One only has to consider incumbent NIS director, Nam Jae-joon, to confirm this sad truth. Nam, who deliberately disclosed the secret records of the 2007 inter-Korean summit Monday, cited two reasons: these were no longer secrets because of continuous leaks to the media, and because the disclosure was necessary to “keep the honor of the NIS.”

What he didn’t say ― but most people know ― was that the leak itself was the making of the NIS agents to help the government and its party during last year’s presidential election. Even if the leaks were made through some other channels, Nam should be the last one to openly talk about it.

Far more astonishing was that he mentioned the NIS’s honor, which raised questions even in ordinary people’s minds. Can there be any greater dishonor for the spy agency than the numerous scandals and suspicions caused by its meddling in domestic politics? Is the NIS’s honor more important than the nation’s honor and interests that were tainted and compromised by its unprecedented revelation of what was told in the secret summit meeting?

Nam, a former four-star general, is known for being thoroughly imbued with a military spirit. That’s fine. But one cannot help but doubt his ability to make good judgments.

The first soldier-turned-spymaster in 13 years said the disclosure was also aimed at calming social and political unease by exposing the summit contents to the public. How could he not expect that such an act would deepen, not ease, the schism in public opinion of this country already split asunder by ideological strife? All this shows that Nam was, and still is, blinded by loyalty to the person who gave him his position and the political and ideological group that they commonly belong to, while never trying to maintain political independence.

It’s rather an irony that Nam’s opening of this Pandora’s box has led the nation to find the only thing left in it ― hope of reforming the NIS.

We welcome in this regard the bipartisan agreement Wednesday to start parliamentary investigations into the NIS’s alleged smear campaigns against opposition candidates in last year’s presidential election. All political parties should leave partisan bickering aside for a moment and focus on how to reform the nation’s broken-down spy agency. The time has long past for legislature to exercise tighter supervision on the unchecked and unregulated agency with 10,000 agents spending nearly 1 trillion won in yearly budget to turn it into an organization that serves the nation, and people, instead of the government and its leader.

Much, or almost all, depends on the leader’s will. President Park Geun-hye, whose father was assassinated by his own spy chief, must know far better than to succumb to temptation and use the NIS in domestic politics.