|
Cheong Wa Dae has started a search for the source in the National Security Council who leaked confidential minutes of NSC meetings to a ruling-party lawmaker.
Rep. Choi Jae-cheon on Thursday followed his disclosure of the NSC minutes a day earlier with that of a classified internal document about so-called strategic flexibility for the U.S. Forces Korea -- the subject of a just patched-up spat between Seoul and Washington.
The documents contain detailed information on bilateral consultations about permitting the USFK to be deployed to trouble spots elsewhere, and NSC discussions that are classified as a level 3 state secret. Another NSC document made public by Choi later is marked ¡°strictly confidential.¡±
Choi made the documents public to back his claim that the agreement on strategic flexibility Seoul and Washington sealed in ministerial meeting last month only satisfied the demands of the U.S.
Choi warned this was just the beginning. ¡°What I have disclosed is not even 1/20 of the total, and I took into consideration that the minutes of NSC meeting are confidential,¡± he said.
In a meeting under Chief Presidential Secretary Lee Byeong-wan on Thursday, Cheong Wa Dae decided the situation is ¡°critical¡± since the documents must have come from inside the NSC. It put the presidential secretary for civil affairs in charge of the investigation. The office believes the material disclosed by Choi is just the tip of the iceberg.
"If you look at the way things have happened, it¡¯s certain that there is a Deep Throat in the NSC office,¡± a government official said. ¡°The insider will be charged with leaking confidential information.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
