Opposition points finger at Park for disclosure

Rep. Shin Kyung-min of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), center in the left photo, claims that Cheong Wa Dae may have ordered the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to disclose the minutes of the 2007 inter-Korean summit in order to avoid scrutiny regarding the NIS’s alleged intervention in last year’s presidential election. In the right photo, DP Rep. Moon Jae-in reads documents ahead of the start of a meeting of the National Assembly Strategy and Finance Committee. Moon served as the late former President Roh’s presidential chief of staff and headed the inter-Korean summit organizing committee. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) condemned the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Monday for disclosing transcripts of an inter-Korean summit, calling the spy agency’s move “insubordination equivalent to a coup or a rebellion.”

The DP said it will take steps to hold the NIS accountable for releasing the “confidential documents.”

The NIS reclassified and then released the transcripts of the inter-Korean summit between former President Roh Moo-hyun and then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang in October 2007 to the National Assembly.

Saenuri Party lawmakers on the National Assembly Intelligence Committee received the transcripts, while the DP refused to accept them, questioning the authenticity of the documents.

“Today, the NIS peremptorily disclosed the transcripts without prior action and it is like a coup d’etat,” said Shin Kyung-min, a Supreme Council member of the DP, at a press conference.

“But if there is someone behind the NIS decision, Cheong Wa Dae or the Saenuri Party should clarify their position on it.”

He added if the spy agency has someone pressuring it, the NIS should be disbanded.

Ahead of the disclosure, the opposition party claimed the Saenuri Party was attempting to interfere with a special parliamentary inquiry into the NIS’s alleged illegal involvement in the Dec. 19 presidential election. The latter raised the summit transcripts issue during the presidential campaign. The ruling party claims that Roh made remarks about disavowing the Northern Limit Line (NLL) to the North Korean leader.

The disclosure has apparently made the DP more suspicious about the NIS case.

“I do not understand why they are trying hard to obstruct a special investigation. Now, there is no solution other than holding a probe and uncover the truth,” Shin said.

The documents disclosed by the NIS are extracts, not the original ones, and the DP said it will discuss revealing the originals based on law and normal procedures.

Under law, presidential records such as the minutes of a summit are kept secret for 15 years and can only be made public with two-thirds approval of all lawmakers or if a warrant is issued by a high court judge.

Meanwhile, Saenuri Party lawmakers immediately denounced Roh’s remarks on the NLL, the de facto maritime border, as undermining South Korea's sovereignty.