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The National Assembly is likely to pass a revision to the Protection of Communication Secrets Act that would permit wiretapping of mobile phones on April 2. Main opposition Grand National Party Rep. Joo Sung-young, the vice chairman of the National Assembly¡¯s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday, "We¡¯ve finished consultations with the ruling Uri Party, the National Intelligence Service and the Justice Ministry. The bill will be deliberated in a plenary session of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee on Friday and pass the current extraordinary session."
The bill was tabled by GNP lawmakers Kim Jung-hoon and Chung Hyung-keun in 2005, when prosecutors were investigating illegal wiretapping by the NIS. After being shelved for some two years, it was revived by a subcommittee of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. The revision would require investigation agencies to ask telecom providers for cooperation when they want to eavesdrop on mobile phone conversations. The telecoms must have wiretapping equipment fully or partially paid for by the state. Failure to comply with the request for cooperation will carry criminal charges. Investigation agencies will also be allowed to ask the service providers for GPS-guided information on the location of targets.
Uri lawmaker Kim Dong-cheol, another committee vice chairman, said, "We¡¯ve provided a control device in the bill to the effect that in case they are wiretapped or their location is detected, subscribers will be notified after a certain period, and that a limit is set on the wiretapping period."
In the National Assembly Intelligence Committee last November, NIS Director Kim Man-bok requested cooperation for a revision of the act, which he said was needed to guard against ¡°terrorism and international crimes.¡± The NIS has claimed it cannot eavesdrop on cell phone conversations because it dismantled all wiretapping equipment when its precursor, the National Agency for Security Planning, was found to have continued wiretapping.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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