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A U.S. immigration court on Tuesday granted political asylum to Kim Ki-sam, a former South Korean intelligence agent who quit the National Intelligence Service in 2000 after revealing information about illegal activities committed by the spy agency. In a telephone interview with Yonhap News, Kim’s lawyer, Janet Hinshaw-Thomas, confirmed that Kim was granted political asylum by the immigration court in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
After disclosing activities by the intelligence agency which allegedly helped former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000, Kim has been living in the U.S. He applied for asylum in December 2003. In 2005, Kim shocked Korean society by divulging the fact that the NIS precursor Agency for National Security Planning was engaged in illicit wiretapping of mobile phones of influential figures under the Kim Young-sam administration in the early 1990s.
Kim told Yonhap it took five long years for the U.S. court to grant him political asylum. Kim said he firmly believed a higher court will make the same decision. He added that if the Korean government continues to ignore the truths he shed light on, there is no reason for him to come back. However, if the new government is willing to investigate the issues, he is willing to return, Kim said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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