By Jun Ji-hye
Is it possible for the nation’s spy agency to reform itself?
President Park Geun-hye said Monday that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) should set up measures for self-reform.
However, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) described this as a counterproductive proposal.
“Park’s request is like entrusting a thief with the task of catching a thief. Park and the ruling Saenuri Party seem to have little understanding of the present situation which is very grave,” said Rep. Jun Byung-hun, the DP floor leader, Tuesday.
Speaking at a party meeting at the National Assembly, Jun said the spy agency’s alleged illegal intervention in last year’s presidential election is not a separate issue to the matter of reforming the NIS.
“The NIS released confidential information (the 2007 inter-Korean summit records) and strategically used it from the presidential election period to water down various controversial issues surrounding Park,” said Jun, describing this as the ultimate political maneuver.
Jun urged President Park to sack NIS head Nam Jae-joon if she has the will to reform the agency.
Rep. Jin Sung-joon said President Park talked about the NIS issues as if it were other people’s business.
“She said that the allegations surrounding the NIS’s meddling in the presidential election and late President Roh Moo-hyun’s comments regarding the Northern Limit Line have aggravated social conflict. But she should include herself within this because she is the author of such conflict,” said Jin.
Rep. Moon Byeong-ho said, as the head of the country responsible for managing state affairs, Park should make an apology about the fact that the nation’s spy agency has become a “criminal organization.”
Moon also asked Park to fire Nam for releasing the summit records, describing it as an “unlawful act.”
Independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo also said, “Asking the NIS to reform itself equates to asking the agency not to be reformed. It is completely absurd to think that an organization that needs massive reform can do so on its own.”
Some members from the ruling party also expressed skepticism about Park’s comments.
Seven-term lawmaker Chung Mong-joon said: “Whenever new governments are elected, there are attempts to reform the NIS. But these always fail to produce praiseworthy achievements because such attempts come from within the NIS itself.”
Lee Sang-don, a law professor at Chung-Ang University and a former member of the ruling party’s now-defunct special committee on political reform, stressed that the NIS must stop intervening in the nation’s social and political matters on the basis of collecting domestic information.
“Reforming the spy agency has become a subject of national concern and most necessary measures can only be implemented by passing new legislation. As the National Assembly will eventually have to handle these issues, bipartisan efforts are essential for the task,” said Lee.
Former lawmaker Cho Soon-hyung of the minor conservative Advancement and Unification Party, previously the Liberty Forward Party, called on Park to set up a neutral committee if she is determined to transform the NIS into a competent intelligence agency.