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Chong Wa Dae Spokesman Yoon Tae-young said Friday that three more government agencies -- the National Security Council (NSC), the National Information Service (NIS) and the Defense Ministry -- will also be investigated by the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), along with the Foreign Ministry into how they had dealt with the murder of Kim Sun-il.
This is the first time for the NSC to be inspected by the BAI, and the third time for the NIS. The government¡¯s decision to expand the investigation to include those offices resulted from criticisms coming from inside and outside the government saying that there are some serious problems of cooperation between government agencies and the NIS, which lacks the ability to collect information.
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Inspectors from the Board of Audit and Inspection questions the staff of the Foreign Affairs Ministry regarding Kim Sun-il¡¯s case on the 18th floor of the ministry office on Friday.
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Regarding that statement, Yoon said, ¡°We will use this opportunity to examine and overhaul the information system of foreign and security institutions.¡± According to the decision, the BAI on Friday organized a special inspection team consisting of 16 officials from the Government Administration and the National Security Bureau and embarked on an investigation by collecting data from the Foreign Ministry.
The BAI is expected to focus its investigation on the Foreign Ministry¡¯s response to the AP¡¯s request to confirm whether or not a Korean was abducted; details of how the Foreign Ministry acquired the information about Kim¡¯s abduction and its reporting system; the way the government dealt with the incident and negotiated it; and on the realities of securing safety for Koreans in Iraq.
Given the great public interest in the incident, the BAI intends to conclude the investigation as soon as possible. As a result, the result of the investigation may be announced around July 10.
(Shin Jeong-rok, jrshin@chosun.com )
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