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There has been a continuous stream of media reports that the National Intelligence Service launched a special task force in 2005 to investigate Grand National Party presidential contender Lee Myung-bak. That task force was reportedly led by then deputy director for domestic affairs Lee Sang-eop. All of the reports are based on the testimonies of NIS officials. One said that NIS Director Kim Man-bok was briefed on the situation in an internal meeting earlier this month. A number of people who were present at that meeting called on the NIS to go public with everything, but top officials reportedly declined. But instead, the NIS has come under more suspicion for allegedly hiding this fact when it made public an internal investigation of a mid-level official for looking up confidential real estate records of candidate Lee.
If those reports are true, the NIS has clearly violated laws prohibiting the intelligence services from interfering in politics. This is a grave incident that could affect the president, whose responsibility is to supervise and direct the NIS.
In a press release on Tuesday, the NIS categorically denied all allegations of the existence of a Lee Myung-bak taskforce, vowing to take legal action against media reports. The problem is that the denial by the NIS is based entirely on the results of an internal investigation. In other words, we only have the NIS¡¯ word for it that no taskforce was ever assembled to investigate a particular politician and that no report on one was ever compiled.
Back in 2002, when the GNP unveiled evidence of mobile phone taps by the NIS, the intelligence service conducted an internal investigation which found not only that such acts had never taken place but that they would have been technologically impossible. Three years later, it was revealed that these claims were complete lies. Yet now, once again, the NIS is using the results of an internal investigation to defend itself against allegations.
The NIS director told GNP lawmakers on Monday that the findings of the taskforces operated by the intelligence service are reported to Cheong Wa Dae, ¡°depending on importance.¡± It is only natural that suspicions are growing as to whether findings by any Lee Myung-bak taskforce were considered important enough for a report. President Roh Moo-hyun has been boasting that government agencies that wield tremendous power and influence have gone politically neutral. In fact, Roh has been touting that as the main accomplishment of his administration. But the public is rightly suspicious whether this is true.
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