By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
A leak scandal, in which a classified document of the nation's spy agency was made public in a local newspaper on Thursday, troubles the presidential transition team.
The JoonAng Ilbo disclosed the conversation between Kim Man-bok, director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and Kim Yang-gun, director of the United Front Department of the North Korean Workers' Party, which took place in Pyongyang on Dec. 18, a day before the presidential election.
The NIS chief was quoted as saying that he was pretty optimistic that there would be no significant change in Seoul's stance on the North even if then frontrunner candidate Lee Myung-bak wins the election.
``Lee could make a strong case for the engagement policy to Pyongyang to conservatives in the South,'' the South's spy chief said.
``One cannot even rule out the possibility that he might seek a bolder North Korea policy,'' he told his North Korean counterpart.
The paper said that the talks between the intelligence chiefs did not cover `` sensitive issues.''
According to the paper, the two shared views on the prospects of inter-Korean relations and the presidential election results in the luncheon meeting which lasted two and a half hours.
Chairwoman Lee Kyung-sook of the presidential transition team said she had asked the NIS to find out who leaked the confidential document.
``If the person responsible for the circulation turns out to be an insider from the transition team, he/she will be punished (for their professional misconduct),'' the chairwoman said.
Transition team spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said the team took the leak incident very seriously because the document released by the intelligence agency was classified material.
Grand National Party (GNP) lawmaker Chung Hyung-keun questioned the ethics of journalists who dealt with the story.
``Meeting the public's right to have access to information is important, but it is questionable if (these journalists) really had to cover the classified document,'' Chung said.
Team spokesman Lee explained that the NIS submitted the transcript of the conversations on Jan. 5, shortly after it was requested to do so.
Previously, a proposal of government reorganization was leaked to the press 20 minutes after it was reported to President-elect Lee.
Lee directed the team to find out who was responsible for the circulation of the classified document to the media.
An insider of the transition team said the nature of the leaks seemed to be different. This time, the circulation appears to be intentional, the source said.
``The conversation has no intrusive remarks or content causing the President-elect to feel bad. And therefore, I believe an insider of the NIS could be the source of this material," he said.