DLP Head Returns Kim Jong Il’s Jacket; Dispute Between Ex-NIS Chief and Blue House Widens
This spy scandal is a very old-fashioned scheme, and the South Korean government uses spy scandals whenever they have political crises.”
That is actually true. The problem with applying that theory here is that this investigation, still in its very early stages, has already been enough of an embarrassment to the ruling party that its hidden hand isn’t likely to be behind this.
Of course, nothing has directly implicated anyone in the Roh Administration or the ruling party in the scandal yet, but both are behaving like stakeholders in the outcome. The ruling party is demanding an end to leaks, while former NIS Chief Kim Seong-Kew is suggesting that his successor might follow the desires of certain politicians to suppress the investigations. The Blue House is also denying rumors that Kim resigned because of disputes with some of its staffers, possibly related to the investigation. The Segye Ilbo suggests that shoes could drop like rain:
In terms of quality and quantity, the orders from North Korea to Jang Min Ho are very big. There are at least 47 coded secret reports to North Korea. Although the reports are in the early stage of analysis, they are already having powerful effects. They cover political, economic, and social issues. The NIS thinks that if it analyzes all of the reports, the results will be very shocking. If there is any truth to the rumor that they were involved in demolishing the National Security Law, against the U.S. base move, the anti-FTA movement, etc., it will be very shocking.
There are rising fears that a new NIS Chief might not give the investigation his full support:
Mr. Kim did nothing to dampen that hail of accusations, refusing to confirm or deny speculation that young, liberal Blue House officials had been his undoing. He added cryptically, “I don’t take it to heart.”
He also told the newspaper that he could not support some of the people who have been rumored to be in line to succeed him. Without naming anyone, he said some of them were too much “in tune with the political establishment.” But he also suggested that an internal promotion from within the agency to fill his job would not be the best course. “It may be too early,” he said, “to guarantee political neutrality and allow internal reforms to continue.”
Three names have been mentioned by unnamed Blue House staff members for Mr. Kim’s job, including one current official at the spy agency, Kim Man-bok, who reportedly has close ties with Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, who also tendered his resignation last week. The other two are the outgoing defense minister, Yoon Kwang-ung, and Lee Jong-baek, the head of the Seoul High Public Prosecutors Office.
The opposition Grand Nationals are calling for Kim Seong-Kew to stay on the job until the investigation is completed, citing fears (raised by Kim himself here and here) that the ruling party might not pursue it to its fullest:
“The resignation on the 26th was definitely submitted under the Blue House’s influence,” said Na Kyong-won, the conservative party’s spokeswoman. She told reporters, “Mr. Kim is abandoning his position when he should be in charge of scrutinizing the case.”
She claimed that Mr. Kim had been leading the espionage investigation, a course opposed by young, liberal Blue House staff who pressed him to step down “in fear of revelations about their conduct in the case,” Ms. Na charged.
The Uri Party responds by accusing the GNP of wanting Kim out in the first place(!). At the same time, they’re awfully upset about all of these leaks, which is a sentiment that I would not expect if they only expected members of other parties to get burned by this.
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Some interesting new details are also emerging from press reports, with the Joongang Ilbo leading the way. The leader of the spy ring turns out to have served in the U.S. Army, at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, for four years.
The Seoul Central District Public Prosecutors Office and the National Intelligence Service said Mr. Jang had joined the U.S. military in 1989 when he was a permanent resident of the United States and served at Yongsan Garrison, the headquarters base of U.S. Forces Korea, for four years. He obtained U.S. citizenship in 1993. They accused him of having paid his first visit to North Korea in 1989, just before joining the U.S. Army. He allegedly traveled there again in 1993, joining the North Korean Workers Party that year.
Mr. Jang is suspected of having operated as an undercover agent for Pyongyang since then, the prosecution and intelligence service sources said. In 1997, he was said to have organized a group of former student activists targeted at gathering information from members of political parties and civic groups.
An intrepid Joongang Ilbo reporter actually tracked down the safe house outside Beijing where the spy ring members allegedly met their North Korean handlers.
The safe house allegedly used by members of Ilsimhoe, a ring that prosecutors said had been spying in South Korea for the North, is a small two-story apartment in eastern Beijing. The address is 3089 Dongxuhuayuan, 18 Shuangqiaodong-lu, Zahoyang-qu, one of 2,000 units in the 56-building Dongxuhuayuan complex.
The place has dark tinted windows and looks unoccupied. “We had no communication with those in 3089. I thought they were Korean-Chinese,” an elderly man living in unit 3088 said. A real estate agent nearby said he did not know that Koreans were living in the apartment. The area is far from Wangjing where most Koreans in Beijing live.
I wonder if this could have happened without China’s knowledge and support. It even raises questions of their involvement, since some meetings appear to have taken place at the Sheraton Great Wall.