hankyoreh

Members of the New Progressive Party try to fix the party’s broken signboard at their headquarters on July 1. The signboard was broken by members of an association of former members of the Headquarters Of Intelligence Detachment, the seat of South Korea’s secret counterintelligence operation. On the evening, members of the association made a assault at the headquarters of NPP, and resulted in property damage, some persons of injuries and five arrests, .

According to police and an NPP official, five members of the association arrived at the NPP’s headquarters shouting, “Come out Jin Joong-gwon! We will kill all communists!” Jin, a journalist and activist who is known for his criticism of both conservatives and liberals alike, has been active in broadcasting reports from the site of the candlelight protests since they began on May 2.

During assault of the association members, one woman of NPP was injured and a man of NPP hospitalized. Jin was also injured. All five association members, including the secretary-general, were arrested.

Following their arrest, association members refused to be questioned, saying, “We are the victims. The communists should disappear.”

The secretary-general, who is only identified by the surname Oh, was the co-chair of a special committee on security issues for President Lee Myung-bak during his presidential campaign.

Lee Sun-hee, the NPP spokeswoman, said that the association members “seem to feel antipathy towards the NPP due to the candlelight protests. This was an act of terror and the NPP will deal with the case so severely.”

At the height of its operations, the Headquarters Of Intelligence Detachment had thousands of agents in its employ, most of whom worked undercover in North Korea.

Photo by Kim Jin-soo/The Hankyoreh.