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A cursory look at materials confiscated from the National Intelligence Service during a raid last week reportedly produced evidence that the secret service continued to eavesdrop on citizens during the Kim Dae-jung administration. Prosecutors have completed a first sift through user logs of cell phone bugging equipment and 10 boxes of documents as part of a wide-ranging investigation of clandestine bugging by the spy agency.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office got its hands on a log recording the targets, suspected crimes and duration of cell phone call intercepts of some 40 and 50 individuals. A prosecutor said it was likely the intercepts were illegal since major national figures such as politicians, businessmen and media figures are included on the list.
Meanwhile, prosecutors plan to summon former NIS director Chun Yong-taek this week. The NIS investigated Chun for recovering tapes taken from the agency by a former operative in a bugging team that operated under former president Kim Young-sam, between November and December 1999, while Chun headed the service. They also want to call in for questioning Oh Chung-so, a senior official of what was then the Agency for National Security Planning. Oh reportedly played a leading role in assembling the team, codenamed Mirim, in June 1994. They want to know whether Oh reported content of bugged conversations to Kim Young-sam's son Hyun-chul or former Cheong Wa Dae political affairs secretary Lee Won-jong.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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