Spy agency may abuse anti-terrorism law: MPK
Rep. Lee Jong-kul, left, floor leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, checks his phone while his ruling Saenuri Party counterpart, Rep. Won Yoo-chul, looks at his watch during their meeting at the National Assembly, Monday. The rival parties resumed their negotiations on redistricting the constituency boundaries for the April 13 general election in the National Assembly and pending bills, over which they have been sparring for months. / Yonhap
By Kim Hyo-jin
The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) is reluctant to endorse the anti-terrorism bill pending in the parliament due to concerns that powers provided within it could be abused by the nation’s spy agency, the party said, Monday.
The comment came after the MPK and the ruling Saenuri Party resumed negotiations over the anti-terrorism and other pending bills to end a deadlock in the National Assembly.
“The proposed anti-terrorism bill is about increasing the powers of the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The agency could abuse the law, if enacted in that way, to monitor liberal politicians and activists,” Rep. Lee Jong-kul, floor leader of the MPK, said at a party meeting. “It is difficult to clear doubts over the spy agency’s possible abuse of the law even if the anti-terrorism control tower will be set up under the Prime Minister’s Office.”
Parties have been sparring for months over the anti-terrorism bill that proposes setting-up an anti-terrorist control tower under the NIS.
The bill intends to give the new body the task of orchestrating overall governmental operations on surveillance, investigations, and analyses of intelligence to counter possible terrorist attacks in coordination with the NIS. It also extends the authority of the NIS when monitoring private communications.
Amid the ongoing tensions with North Korea, the ruling Saenuri Party and the government have pushed ahead with the passage of the new security bill, saying it will increase overall intelligence capabilities in the face of the heightened security risk.
The call was fueled after the NIS disclosed information that the North’s spy agency is currently planning to launch terrorist attacks against South Korea on orders from its leader Kim Jong-un.
Saenuri Party lawmaker, Lee Cheol-woo, a member of the Assembly’s intelligence committee, warned of cyber attacks from the isolated country around March and April, quoting an NIS official.
However, the MPK still showed resistance against the bill, expressing unease about possible abuses of power by the spy agency, which already has a tarnished reputation after its involvement in a series of political scandals.
Won Sei-hoon, who headed the NIS from 2009 to 2013 was found guilty of conducting an online smear campaign against the opposition presidential candidates in favor of President Park Geun-hye, the then ruling party hopeful.
Parties are trying to find a compromise by putting the anti-terrorist center under the Prime Minister’s Office, and making it monitor NIS activities, according to party officials.
But an agreement is still not in sight. MPK lawmakers remain concerned that as long as the bill’s content provides the agency with authority to collect private information, it cannot be regarded as a preventive measure.
They take issue with the ambiguity of the concept of “terrorist activities” stated in the bill. “Without limiting the extent of terrorist activities and defining when the NIS can work on obtaining personal information, we have no guarantee that our privacy will be protected from the prying eyes,” said an MPK lawmaker.