By Jun Ji-hye
Opposition parties on Monday called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into allegations that the prosecution submitted fabricated Chinese government documents to a Seoul appellate court in an espionage case involving a civil servant.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have also been implicated in the alleged forgery of documents to prove allegations of espionage against Yoo Woo-sung, a North Korean defector working for the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
The documents, which have the seals of the government of Helong, a city in northeastern China, contained Yoo’s travel records between China and North Korea.
Yoo is accused of having handed over the personal information of some 200 North Korean defectors to the Stalinist state after his defection to Seoul in 2004. A lower court cleared him of these charges.
The Chinese Embassy to Korea last Thursday disputed the authenticity of the records, saying that the Chinese authorities will launch an investigation into the alleged forged documents.
Rep. Kim Han-gil, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), said that the NIS, prosecution and foreign ministry are shifting the responsibility for the forging of records to others.
“A parliamentary investigation is necessary to examine the facts of the incident. Then, a special, independent prosecutor needs to be appointed to punish those involved,” said Kim at a party meeting.
Kim targeted the spy agency, saying, “It is now known that those who tried to dispose of evidence of the agency’s unlawful intervention in the 2012 presidential election even tried to fabricate foreign documents to create a ‘fake spy.’”
However, Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn told the National Assembly session that the records in question were given by China via the foreign ministry.
“As far as I know, investigators asked China to offer Yoo’s travel records in various ways as to whether or not the defendant actually entered the North, which was a very significant part of the case,” said Hwang.
Hwang said after securing the travel records issued by Helong, prosecutors asked the Chinese government through the nation’s diplomatic missions to review the authenticity of the records, and then the Helong government responded by saying they were genuine.
The minister said the justice ministry is trying to figure out the reason for the Chinese embassy’s “unexpected” announcement that the documents had been fabricated.
At the center of the controversy is the Korean consulate in Shenyang city, China's Liaoning province.
According to the announcement of the prosecution Sunday, the NIS members in the consulate handed over the controversial documents to investigators.
In the consulate, a number of NIS officials, together with foreign ministry staffers, are stationed because the border city between China and the North is a frontline location for obtaining North Korean intelligence.
The foreign ministry, which in principle takes overall responsibility for the matters of the consulate, has so far maintained that, “We are working on confirming the facts.”
The ministry is said to be put in an awkward situation, to check the validity of document fabrication because the NIS members stationed there are not obliged to make reports to the consul general if the information is regarded as sensitive, significant intelligence.
The NIS in its official statement attempted to leave the responsibility to the foreign ministry, saying, “We see the records as authentic because our officials secured them through the consulate.”
Yoo’s defense team, Minbyun (Lawyers for a Democratic Society), argued that the NIS and prosecution submitted the fabricated travel records to the court although they were aware of the problems with the documents.