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The Unification Ministry ignored protests from the National Intelligence Service and the Justice Ministry in permitting members of the Democratic Labor Party, some of whose leaders are under arrest on spying charges, to visit North Korea on Monday, it has emerged. The NIS called the permission ¡°inappropriate¡± when the ministry sought the agency¡¯s views. A former and current DLP leader are being held in a spy ring case involving former student activists of the so-called 386 generation now close to the centers of power.
Justice Minister Kim Sung-ho told a parliamentary audit Monday his ministry advised the Unification Ministry not to give the green light to some applicants who had criminal records for violating the National Security Law and remain under police watch. Those who violated the National Security Law include DLP chairman Moon Sung-hyun and lawmaker Roh Hoe-chan.
A Unification Ministry official said the ministry gave the go-ahead nonetheless since it considered the visit an exchange between North and South Korean political parties and expects the DLP to act responsibly as a party registered in the National Assembly. An NIS source said it was ¡°incomprehensible¡± that the ministry gave permission when former and incumbent party leaders are under arrest and the investigation continues.
DLP chairman Moon told reporters before departure on Monday that giving up on the visit would mean wasting an opportunity for peace on the Korean Peninsula. ¡°It would be like abandoning a historical mission,¡± he said. Roh said political interest alone made it advisable to abandon the visit, but added the lawmakers had ¡°an absolute mission that comes before party political interest.¡± In a grand analogy, Moon likened the North Korea visit to the revered independent fighter Kim Koo¡¯s visit to Pyongyang after World War II. Kim led the provisional government in Shanghai and fought against trusteeship of the U.S. and the Soviet Union after liberation from Japanese rule. In 1948, spearheading the drive for unification, he opposed South Korea's general election, which excluded North Korea, and visited Pyongyang to meet leader Kim Il-sung in an attempt to reunite Korea.
Moon told Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok at a meeting on Oct. 20 that the DLP delegates will propose another inter-Korean summit during their visit. Lee reportedly said that was ¡°a good idea.¡± The visit comes at the invitation of North Korea¡¯s Korean Social Democratic Party, issued before the North¡¯s recent nuclear test. A delegate said a meeting with the North's No. 2 leader Kim Yong Nam, the president of the Presidium of the legislative Supreme People's Assembly, was almost certain while a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was ¡°possible.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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