NIS to file complaint against former director
Former spy agency chief hit for leaking classified information
By Jun Ji-hye
Kim Man-bok, former National Intelligence Service director
Former National Intelligence Service (NIS) director Kim Man-bok, who recently disclosed classified information about the existence of a hotline between former leaders of the two Koreas, is likely to face an investigation by the prosecution.
An NIS official told reporters Saturday that the spy agency is planning to file a complaint with the prosecution against Kim for allegedly violating the NIS law that bans divulging classified information.
The NIS law stipulates that former and incumbent NIS officials must not leak classified information acquired during their terms of service. The law also stipulates that former and incumbent officials should obtain permission from a NIS director in advance when they want to publish or openly talk about things related to their duties.
The move came after Kim, who served as a NIS director during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, said in an interview with Joongang Ilbo published Thursday that the hotline was operating between Roh and late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il when the two Koreas pushed for the 2007 inter-Korean summit. He said the two late leaders frequently talked to each other on the hotline.
Kim said that the line was established under the Kim Dae-jung administration on the back of good inter-Korean relations at the time, adding that the hotline was very different from the channel currently in use, operated by the Ministry of Unification through the truce village of Panmunjeom.
Kim also said in his memoirs of the Roh administration’s peace vision for the Korean Peninsula that Roh and Kim Jong-il agreed to have a free trade agreement between the two sides, but that agreement was later excluded during the process of gathering opinion from the South’s relevant ministries.
Kim’s comments provoked controversy immediately as it was the first time that the presence of a hotline between the leaders of South and North Korea was disclosed by a former government official.
The former NIS director tried to resolve the controversy at a forum Friday, explaining that the interview he gave was misleading. He said the hotline was established at the NIS and operated 24 hours a day. The agency understood the messages through the hotline as Kim Jong-il’s positions and reported them to late Presidents Kim and Roh, he said.
“My interview meant that there was a line for the leaders to communicate through easily if they wanted to, but Roh and Kim Jong-il never talked to each other directly,” he said.
Despite the explanation, Rep. Park Jie-won, who served as chief of staff for the late former President Kim, criticized Kim Man-bok Saturday, saying “Kim should be more cautious as suitable to his position as a former director of the NIS.”
“There was no hotline between late President Kim and late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il,” Park posted on his Twitter account.
Park added that former NIS chief Kim had previously been a troublemaker, recalling another controversy over Kim’s contribution to Japanese media in 2011 in which he disclosed information related to the inter-Korean summit.
“Kim’s interview and memoirs are making headlines everywhere,” Park said. “Kim should control himself.”
Kim refused to respond to the mounting controversy, saying “I don’t want to comment.”
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