Ruling and opposition parties clashed Wednesday over allegations that late President Roh Moo-hyun moved to nullify the de-facto sea border between the two Koreas in 2007.
Ruling Saenuri Party floor leader Lee Hahn-koo told reporters that there is a need to determine if the former chief executive actually made the remarks that compromised the country's sovereignty during the inter-Korean summit meeting in 2007.
According to Rep. Chung Moon-hun, Roh met with late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il at around 3 p.m. Oct. 3, 2007, and verbally promised to nullify the Northern Limit Line (NLL). He also agreed to massive aid for the communist country. The conversation was allegedly recorded by the North and copies of the transcript are currently held by the Unification Ministry and Seoul's intelligence agency, the lawmaker claimed in a parliamentary audit session earlier in the week. The Unification Ministry has denied Chung's claim.
"Claims that there is a transcript have emerged and due to the magnitude of the contents, there is a pressing need to conduct an official probe," the party leader said.
He said if Roh actually made the remarks, it would be tantamount to compromising the country's territorial rights and disrupting national order.
Lee said Saenuri has set up a fact-finding committee chaired by Rep. Song Kwang-ho to see if there is validity to the claims made, and will call for a meeting of the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee.
"Saenuri strongly urges the opposition party to take part in calling for a probe to help determine if a transcript exists," Lee said. He added it is necessary to see if Roh hinted at the need to withdraw U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula, and whether he sympathized with North Korea's motives behind its nuclear weapons program.
In addition, the floor leader said that since the main opposition Democratic United Party's (DUP) presidential candidate Moon Jae-in was chief of staff to Roh at the time, there is a need to determine if he was aware of the conversation if it took place. The lawmaker said that if Moon was aware of the content of the alleged exchange, he must make his views clear on the matter.
"Moon has repeatedly said he wants to honor the inter-Korean agreement reached at the 2007 summit so it is imperative to know if he also wants to stick to the letter of the verbal promise made by Roh to the North Korean leader," the official said.
In response, the DUP held a press conference at the National Assembly that was attended by Roh's entourage at the summit to refute the ruling party's claims.
"There was no one-on-one meeting and certainly no secret agreement," former Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said. Flanked by ex-National Intelligence Service director Kim Man-bok and Baek Jong-chun, Roh's senior security secretary, the minister said at the time of the alleged recording, everyone was involved in the afternoon meeting and the content of the discussion was centered on issues agreed upon earlier and focused on expanding inter-Korean cooperation.
"President Roh made no such remarks as claimed by Rep. Chung, and the fact that such allegations are being raised with just over two months to go before the presidential race raises credibility issues," he said. Lee said that it is intolerable that lies are being spread and Chung should be held accountable for his defamation of the late president.
The DUP, meanwhile, formally said that it will not accept calls by Saenuri to hold a presidential audit.
"Testimonies by those present at the summit show that the allegations raised are false and a political ploy to affect the upcoming elections," a party spokesman said. (Yonhap)