By Choi Ha-young
The Moon Jae-in administration has set up a task force to review how decisions regarding North Korea were made under the previous government, sources said Sunday.
Park Geun-hye shut down the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) and halted civic inter-Korean exchanges and humanitarian aid to protest North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests.
The task force was formed last month, right after the President’s de facto transition team unveiled his initiative to root out “old evils,” according to the Ministry of Unification. The ministry will finish its internal investigation as early as September, and make the results public.
When the massive influence-peddling scandal involving Park’s friend Choi Soon-sil erupted last year, suspicion mounted that Choi engaged in some political decisions, including the one to drop out of the joint industrial zone.
Lee Sung-han, former secretary general of the Mir Foundation set up by Choi, said in an interview that she operated an unofficial advisory group that produced many government policies.
“At one meeting, 90 percent of the talk was about the GIC,” Lee told the local daily Hankyoreh last October.
In February 2016, it was suddenly announced in the middle of the New Year’s holiday that the GIC would be shutdown, despite the ministry’s alleged disapproval.
A group of businessmen, who used to run factories in the North Korean city, called for the special probe team to investigate Choi’s role in shutting down the complex.
The taskforce is the liberal administration’s third known group to review Park’s political decisions. Last month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched one to investigate how the government suddenly reached a “comfort women deal” with Japan.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) also set up a group in June to probe the spy agency’s illegal activities in favor of previous conservative governments, including its illegal meddling in local elections and fabrication of espionage charges.