hankyoreh

Shocking details have been emerging about the illegal gathering of intelligence from various world governments by the US National Security Agency (NSA). The revelations of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden paint an Orwellian picture. Making matters worse is the fact that the South Korean government was apparently one of the key targets of the country’s intelligence gathering efforts.

The New York Times revealed a portion of Snowden’s classified documents that listed South Korea in four “focus areas,” namely foreign policy, foreign intelligence activity, risks to US troops, and strategic technology. Focus areas are places of crucial interest where Washington feels the need to collect intelligence. The document, which was drafted in January 2007, specified activities for a period of twelve to eighteen months, coinciding with the end of the Roh Moo-hyun administration and the beginning of the Lee Myung-bak administration in South Korea (Feb. 2008). It seems that Seoul’s position on sensitive issues like the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, the transfer of wartime operation control, and the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear program were the subject of focused surveillance.

From this document, it appears very likely that South Korea is still a key intelligence target for the US. After all, there is no shortage of sensitive foreign policy and national security issues on the peninsula right now. The chances are also very strong that the South Korean President was one of 35 national leaders subjected to NSA eavesdropping.

Through this revelation, it has become even clearer that the US places its own interest first when it comes to collecting intelligence, and that it does not discriminate between allies and enemies in this regard.

South Korea has to presume for several reasons that all kinds of discussions and movements inside the government were laid bare to American intelligence agents.

The fact is that even today a significant number of figures inside the South Korean government gladly grovel before the US. Considering this, along with the fact that the US illegally collects classified information, it is no exaggeration to say that the inner workings of the South Korean government are an open book for the authorities in Washington.

When an ally is treated in this way, what hope could there be of reciprocal, equitable cooperation?

The US must fully disclose the details of its illegal intelligence gathering activities to the South Korean government. Providing an accurate account of its activities is the first step toward righting its misdeeds.

If the Obama administration resorts to its usual equivocation on this issue, it will suffer the condemnation of the international community. The US must offer measures for defusing the concerns of its allies and the entire world.

Also, the South Korean government must not ignore this issue. The government has already demanded a response from the US about whether it eavesdropped on President Park Geun-hye’s phone conversations.

Now that evidence of wide-ranging illegal activity by the US has come to light, the government must employ every available method to force the US to come clean and make amends. If the South Korean government fails to show some backbone on the issue, it will tarnish the country’s dignity as a sovereign power.

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