Court orders disclosure of 2007 inter-Korean summit transcript

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The Korea Times

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The Korea Times

National

Thu, February 9, 2023 | 12:23

Court orders disclosure of 2007 inter-Korean summit transcript

법원 "국정원, 남북정상회담 대화록 공개해야"

Posted : 2014-07-27 13:47

Updated : 2014-07-27 13:48

A Seoul court has ordered the nation's spy agency to release the transcript of a 2007 summit between late President Roh Moo-hyun and then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, saying the agency's refusal to disclose it is "unfair," court officials said Sunday.

In June last year, a progressive civic group filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court demanding the National Intelligence Service (NIS) disclose the full text of the transcript and its excerpt, after the spy agency turned down its request for disclosure.

The NIS, which was charged with violating the act on presidential records at that time by allegedly leaking the transcript to ruling party lawmakers, refused to reveal them, saying the disclosure could make it difficult to conduct its own investigation into the leakage of the minutes.

"It is unfair for the NIS to reject the civic group's request, and it should release the transcript of the inter-Korean summit," the court said.

Considering that its content has been widely reported in the press and it is easy to obtain the material on the Internet, the disclosure of the transcript would unlikely hamper its investigation and reveal its investigative procedures, the court said.

The NIS was found to have produced two copies of the transcript and kept one of them. The other should have been kept at the national archives.

Last year, lawmakers of the ruling and main opposition parties searched through the national archives but found the transcript was missing. It was later revealed that two former aides to Roh deleted it from the electronic archives and did not transfer it to the state archives at Roh's instruction, according to the prosecution.

In October 2012, Rep. Chung Moon-hun of the ruling Saenuri Party sparked a political dispute by claiming, during a parliamentary inspection into the unification ministry, that Roh had suggested giving up the western sea border with North Korea during his talks with Kim.

Last month, Chung was summarily indicted for allegedly relaying details of what he saw in the transcript while working as a presidential secretary on reunification affairs to the party in a bid to help win voters' support for his party during the 2012 presidential election. (Yonhap)

법원 "국정원, 남북정상회담 대화록 공개해야"

2007년 남북정상회담 대화록 전문을 보게 해달라는 시민단체의 정보공개청구를 받아들이지 않은 국가정보원의 처분은 부당하다고 법원이 판결했다.

서울행정법원 행정6부(함상훈 부장판사)는 이창수 전 새사회연대 대표가 국정원을 상대로 낸 정보비공개처분 취소 소송에서 원고 승소로 판결했다고 27일 밝혔다.

이 전 대표는 고 노무현 전 대통령의 'NLL 포기발언 논란'이 촉발된 지난해 6월 '2007년 남북정상회담 대화록 전문 및 발췌본'을 공개해달라고 국정원에 청구했다.

하지만 국정원은 대화록을 공개한 혐의(대통령기록물관리에 관한 법률 위반)로 고발을 당했다며 관련 수사에 관한 직무 수행이 어려워질 수 있다는 이유로 거부했다.

국정원의 비공개 처분에 불복해 이 전 대표가 낸 소송에서 재판부는 그의 손을 들어줬다.

재판부는 '법원이 비공개로 열람한 결과 대화록에 담긴 정보로 인해 수사 절차 등이 노출될 가능성은 없어 보인다'며 '이미 해당 정보가 언론을 통해 널리 알려져 있고, 인터넷 등을 통해서도 쉽게 확인할 수 있다는 점 등을 함께 고려하면 이 정보의 공개로 수사기관의 직무수행이 현저히 곤란해질 것 같지 않다'고 판시했다.

한편 검찰은 남북정상회담 대화록 유출과 관련해 정문헌 새누리당 의원을 벌금 500만원에 약식기소했다. 남재준 전 국정원장을 비롯해 김무성·서상기 새누리당 의원과 권영세 주중대사에게는 혐의 없음 처분을 내렸다.

법원의 결정으로 정식재판을 받게 된 정 의원은 다음 달 18일 첫 공판준비기일을 앞두고 있다. (연합뉴스)

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