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WASHINGTON D.C. -- According to a report on Tuesday, Kim Ki-sam, a former employee at the National Intelligence Service, applied for political asylum with his family to the New Jersey Asylum Office, which is under the Department of Home Security. Kim disclosed corruption that took place under the Kim Dae-jung administration through the Internet. This unprecedented asylum application is likely to have repercussions on the diplomatic relationship between Korea and the United States.
Kim started to asylum procedures last December and said in the statement submitted to the Asylum Office that he was seeking refuge because he could be persecuted in his country Korea due to his political views. Since last January, he has reported about the corruption of former President Kim's government on various Internet media such as the Korean Solidarity for Anti-Corruption, Independent Newspaper and Cyber News 24 under the pen name of Kim Ki-hwan. Some of the irregularities he claimed include the political maneuverings which brought Kim the Nobel Peace Prize, illegal remittance of $1.5 billion to North Korea and illegal wiretapping by the NIS. He has recently posted three articles about a corruption on the weapon procurement by the former Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam governments, causing a controversy on the Internet. He is preparing a new article which claims that a former president hid illegal funds overseas.
Early last year, Kim was accused of violating the National Intelligence Service Law (charges of leaking secrets obtained while performing his duties) and defamation and is now under the suspension of indictment. He had an interview with the Asylum Office and is waiting for its final decision.
Kim is from Milyang, South Gyeongsang Province and studied law at Seoul National University. While at NIS, he worked for the North Korean Policy Department, Overseas Maneuvering Department, Foreign Policy Department, North Korean Strategy Department and the Secretariat's Outside Cooperation Aid Department under until his retirement in October 2000.
Going to America on a tourist visa in March 2002, he is now living with his wife and two children in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He finished his LLM at Dickinson Law School of Pennsylvania State University while he was in American in 1997 and 1998 for study and passed the New York State bar exam last January.
In an interview with the Chosun Ilbo, he said, ¡°As a person who witnessed the privatization of power and hypocrisy of the Kim Dae-jung government, I could not help but to disclose its true face.¡±
(Joo Yong-joong, midway@chosun.com )
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