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National Intelligence Service Director Kim Man-bok on Tuesday resigned after admitting that he leaked the transcript of a purported conversation he had with North Korea¡¯s head of clandestine activities in the South, Kim Yang-gon. The leak to the JoongAng Ilbo of a strikingly innocuous conversation between the two Kims in Pyongyang on Dec. 18 came earlier last week; Kim Man-bok¡¯s admission that he leaked a confidential state document is the first by a South Korean intelligence chief.
¡°As the chief of the state intelligence agency, I intend to resign to assume the responsibility for causing trouble over a recent newspaper report on details of the transcript of a conversation I had with Kim Yang-gon, director of the United Front Department of the North Korean Workers¡¯ Party. I also apologize to the people,¡± Kim said in a press conference at the NIS building.
A member of the presidential Transition Committee said, "This was an incident caused by NIS chief Kim out of an overweening desire to assume a role even in the new government's implementation of North Korea policy. We had our doubts when we first heard the rumor. But we were shocked to hear his own confession today."
¡ß Why did Kim go to Pyongyang?
The NIS claims Kim visited Pyongyang to erect a monument to mark the planting of a pine tree by President Roh Moo-hyun at the Pyongyang Central Botanical Garden during the inter-Korean summit in October.
Asked why he went there on the eve of the presidential election, the NIS said if he had gone much earlier, he could have caused the misunderstanding that he was trying to influence the election with the help of the North. But Kim did not wait until after the election because he feared it would by then be impossible.
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The front page of the Jan. 10, 2008 edition of the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, which includes an article about a confidential conversation between National Intelligence Service Director Kim Man-bok and his North Korean counterpart Kim Yang-gon.
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Even some officials in the current administration are unconvinced. Why, they ask, would the chief of the state intelligence agency go all the way to Pyongyang in secret to erect a stone monument only a day before the presidential election? Many observers speculate Kim must have had some urgent business to resolve before the next president was elected. According to one intelligence source, Kim had ¡°a deal to close¡± with the North, connected with a rumored underhand agreement the Roh administration made with Pyongyang to make the inter-Korean summit happen.
A series of concrete suspicions are being raised within political circles and inside the NIS. During the Kim Dae-jung administration, it was revealed that the Kim administration handed US$500 million under the table to Pyongyang to realize the first inter-Korean summit. Rumor has it that the Roh administration might also have delivered off-the-books payment in a way that would not so easily come to light.
Some speculate that during his latest visit to Pyongyang, the NIS chief conspired with North Korean officials to make consistent statements concerning such rumors. A former intelligence officer said, "During a transitional period, he did something that was bound to cause a problem. This means he had a crystal clear reason for doing it."
¡ß Did Kim want to create a favorable atmosphere for himself?
The NIS submitted the purported transcript of Kim's conversation with his North Korean counterpart to the Transition Committee on Jan. 8. That the intelligence agency took back all copies of the transcript except one afterwards shows it regarded the document as highly confidential. Nonetheless, Kim leaked a copy of the transcript to an executive of the JoongAng Ilbo, which carried it with an extensive coverage on pages 1 and 4 in its Jan. 10 issue.
It seems Kim felt the need to account for his activities in Pyongyang. Why? During this period, the Transition Committee was fed with plenty of information about what Kim had done during his term, including the suspicions about his role in delivering the underhand payment to the North. Meanwhile, Kim's request for a one-on-one meeting with president-elect Lee Myung-bak was turned down. In view of this, Kim may have leaked the transcript and a photograph of a stone monument to save himself.
The transcript quotes the NIS chief as saying, "It is certain that candidate Lee Myung-bak will win the presidential election tomorrow (Dec. 19). The incoming government will likely push for a more drastic North Korea policy than the current government in the South." The document quotes Kim Yang-gon as asking, "Are you staying in your post as the NIS chief even after the presidential election?" At a glance, their conversation appears to be a mere idle talk, which might otherwise have cleared the NIS chief of suspicions about why he went to Pyongyang at that point.
That is why some people believe the transcript has been doctored. The NIS chief said, "That's all I have. There is nothing more." But in the circumstances, a criminal investigation is likely.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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