By Jun Ji-hye
Members of political parties in the National Assembly began procedures to scrutinize the original records of the 2007 inter-Korean summit stored at the National Archives of Korea, Monday.
Disclosing the confidential material is, according to the parties, the only option to settle the controversy surrounding late President Roh Moo-hyun’s alleged denial of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a de facto sea border in the West Sea.
Ten selected lawmakers visited the archives to choose material they will later view in the National Assembly.
They are Reps. Hwang Jin-ha, Kim Sung-tae, Shim Yoon-joe, Kim Jin-tae and Cho Myung-chul of the ruling Saenuri Party, and Reps. Park Min-soo, Park Beom-kye, Jeon Hae-cheol, Park Nam-choon and Woo Yoon-keun of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP).
Rep. Hong Ihk-pyo, former DP chairman, was initially included in the list, but was later replaced with Park Min-soo after he was criticized for his comments that President Park Geun-hye and her father Park Chung-hee should not have been born.
Before entering the archives, lawmakers handed in their mobile phones to the archives officials for security purposes.
The ruling party and the DP earlier gave the archives seven key phrases to add to its data search, so that the institute could easily locate the records.
These are “Northern Limit Line,” “NLL,” “the South-North Korean summit,” “sea border,” “general-level talks,” “equal distance and equal area,” and “defense ministerial talks.”
The legislator’s request included minutes of the summit, recorded tapes, reports of pre- and post-summit arrangements and all other relevant electronic documents.
The material the archives collated based on seven phrases is reportedly enough to fill two big suitcases.
After ten legislators choose certain records that are they consider necessary for thorough scrutiny at the Assembly, the archives is asked to produce two duplicates of these and send them to the parliament.
After this process, the amount of the records will be likely much reduced.
As for the original recorded tapes containing dialogue between Roh and late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, lawmakers agreed to listen to them at the archives to prevent damage.
Before visiting the archives, lawmakers gathered at the Assembly in the morning and signed a security agreement.
“The selected lawmakers will have to scrutinize the confidential information and have a huge responsibility,” said Choi Kyung-hwan, Saenuri floor leader. “They are not allowed to disclose the content except to those that parties both agree to release.”
DP floor leader Jun Byung-hun said, “All lawmakers involved will tell the unvarnished truth of the original records.”
Saenuri’s Hwang Jin-ha, one of ten lawmakers, said, “I hope the viewing of the presidential records can serve as a momentum to clarify the truth and focus the people’s will to protect nation’s sea border.”
The lawmakers plan to view the records that the archives have transferred to a committee meeting room for about 10 days and then disclose the content based on bipartisan agreement at the party’s meeting, which is open to media.
The parties agreed to use this method because any statements they make in the Assembly are protected by parliamentary privilege that exempts them from civil or criminal liability.
Anyone who breaks the security agreements and reveals the content of confidential material outside its conditions faces up to three years in prison or the suspension of professional qualifications for seven years by law.
The Assembly authorities equipped the meeting room with a closed-circuit television and a safe for the material to be stored.
The scrutiny will be carried out from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. during weekdays. Lawmakers are only allowed to carry memo papers and pens.
However, even after disclosure, rival parties are expected to disagree regarding how they will interpret the minutes and which content they will make public.