By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Seventy-four terrorist suspects, including those with links to Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda, have been sent to prison or deported since 2003, a lawmaker said Sunday.
``South Korea is no longer a safe place when it comes to international terrorism,'' said Rep. Won Hye-young of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP).
Won, a member of the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee, made the remarks, disclosing a classified document produced by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
In the report, the spy agency had compiled intelligence regarding international terrorist suspects' activities in the country since 2003.
According to the document, 74 terrorist suspects, including agents working with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which has al-Qaeda links, have been arrested or repatriated after they were found to have been involved in terrorism-related activities.
The report said the suspects worked on plots to blow-up foreign embassies, gather intelligence on United States Forces Korea, and are involved in terrorism-sponsoring activities such as money laundering and illegal drug trade.
Specifically, 8 JI members were deported for having worked on plots to blow-up foreign embassies in 2004.
In 2006, an immigrant worker from a Southeast Asian country was expelled for promoting terrorism activity through the Internet.
Last year, 10 Southwest Asians were sent to jail after making 40 billion won of illegal foreign exchange transactions with Hawala, some of whose brokers are suspected by the U.S. government of helping terrorist organizations transfer money after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The NIS report also said two Arabians attempted to send raw materials used for the prescription of illegal drugs to Taliban in Afghanistan.
The lawmaker urged the NIS to place top priority on gathering intelligence regarding international terrorists' activities here.