hankyoreh

Lawmaker Lee Seok-ki and three other senior members of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) have been indicted on charges of inciting and plotting a rebellion against the South Korean government.

According to documents released by prosecutors, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) does not seem to have much more evidence than the meeting transcript that was already released to the press, even though it claims to have been investigating the matter for three years, since 2010.

In light of the ongoing controversy about whether it is even appropriate for Lee to be charged with plotting a rebellion, it is unclear whether the case will hold up in court.

Even the prosecutors appear to supporting the NIS in its witch-hunt in the name of public security.

The most important thing of all is to find the actual truth of the case. There are quite a few questions that must be addressed, including whether the document that was widely featured in the media as a transcript of the recording is accurate, and whether the accused were actually planning an insurrection or a rebellion.

While Lee and the other suspects have exercised their right to remain silent throughout the investigation by the NIS and the prosecutors, it is presumed that they will have more to say in the courtroom. We hope that we will gain a clearer understanding of the truth at that point.

Not that the case is going to court, there are a few matters that need to be dealt with.

First is the question of the UPP. Since the matter came into the open on Aug. 27, not only Lee but the party itself have failed to provide a plausible explanation to the public. The party’s contradictory statements, along with lame excuses like the claim that Lee had just been joking when he made the comments in question, have caused the party to lose all public trust.

Apart from the legal battle in the court, at some point, the UPP must do some housecleaning of its own and provide the public with a decent explanation of what happened and a clear expression of its position on the case.

It is not right for a party that receives taxpayer support and that asks people for their votes to leave things as unclear as they are now.

Furthermore, this case has showed us the limits of the NIS’s ability. While the NIS said that it had tracked the activities of a secret revolutionary organization and even wire-tapped it for three years, it has failed to provide any tangible, clear evidence supporting the charge that Lee conspired to overthrow the government aside from already public videos and the transcript of the recording.

This only increases suspicions that the organization, in danger of being downsized because of its interference in last December’s presidential election, rushed to spin the case as an insurrection plot in order to prevent the expected downsizing.

Following its release of the transcript of the summit meeting and of the Lee Seok-ki recording, the NIS has more recently been accused of leaking evidence suggesting that prosecutor-general Chae Dong-wook has an illegitimate son. As a result, criticism is increasing that the NIS has started meddling in politics again, just as it did several decades back.

The candlelight vigils and the Catholic priests holding special masses calling for the disbanding of the NIS cannot be ignored as if they were business as usual.

The scandals that the NIS has created will ultimately only serve to show once the necessity of reforming the NIS.

The truth of the case will be determined in court. But regardless of the outcome of the trial, the UPP needs to engage in some serious introspection and recognize that it is being tried in the court of public opinion.

As for the NIS, if it harbors any delusions about using this case to get out of calls for reform, it should disabuse itself of them at once.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]