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The National Intelligence Service in 2000 regarded then president Kim Dae-jung¡¯s illegitimate daughter as a top priority and concentrated eavesdropping on those involved, it emerged Wednesday. After the first inter-Korean summit on June 15, 2000, Ji Man-won, a military critic and president of the System Future Party, who opposed Kim¡¯s Sunshine Policy, also became subject to wiretaps because the president disliked him. The facts emerged from the records of a 2005 prosecution investigation of the NIS's illegal wiretapping activities exclusively obtained by the Chosun Ilbo.
¡ßKim Dae-jung's daughter was ¡®Issue No. 1¡¯
Right after he became NIS deputy director in April 2000, Kim Eun-sung was briefed by a certain Yu, then chief of the NIS Science Security Bureau, that Kim's illegitimate daughter and her mother were demanding money from Kim Hong-il, Kim's eldest son and a lawmaker at the time. The daughter ¡°called Rep. Kim by telephone, calling him 'brother, brother',¡± the records say. ¡°She also talked on the phone with arms dealer Cho Pung-un." Cho had supported her and her mother for several years, and after Cho went to the U.S., former second NIS deputy director Om Ik-joon, who died in May 2000, took care of them, Kim Eung-song told prosecutors.
Kim's daughter was born out of wedlock in 1970 to the then opposition lawmaker and a 24-year-old woman. Her existence was revealed in an SBS program in April 2005. After the broadcast, Kim and his associates neither denied nor confirmed it. While in office, the NIS deputy director said he paid special attention to the matter, terming it "Pending Issue No. 1" in the belief that it could pose an obstacle to the president winning the Nobel Prize.
Kim Eun-sung obtained information through wiretapping that the daughter's birth mother had killed herself in June 2000, which he reported urgently to then director Lim Dong-won. According to Kim Eun-sung, Lim said, "If it leaks out, it will cause a big stir. Make sure it¡¯s kept secret.¡± "One day, I asked former Rep. Kim Hong-il about the story. But he said, 'I don't know. There isn't such a thing,¡± Kim Eung-song recalled. During the 2005 investigation, Lim denied getting the report and claimed he first heard about it in a broadcast that year.
¡ßKim Dae-jung disliked Ji Man-won
Kim Eun-sung and a former chief of the NIS Science Security Bureau said they also eavesdropped on Ji Man-won, a military critic, between the inter-Korean summit in June 2000 until late 2001. "I didn't know why,¡± the deputy director told prosecutors. ¡°But DJ (Kim Dae-jung) disliked Ji intensely. We eavesdropped on him more than 20 times." The former bureau chief said Ji had criticized the president and his Sunshine Policy in lectures. ¡°I remember being told by a secretary of the NIS director, 'The director takes a keen interest in this issue. Gather information about it.'" Kim Hyung-ki, then vice unification minister, who was also critical of the sunshine policy, was wiretapped too.
Meanwhile, Ji has filed a suit against former NIS director Lim and the state for W500 million (US$1=W932) in damages. Ji, who is in jail, claims he suffered losses because he was wiretapped and his lectures were obstructed by the NIS. The lawsuit is pending.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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