hankyoreh

Kim Man-bok, director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, met with Kim Yang-gon, director of the United Front Department of North Korea’s Workers’ Party, on December 18, 2007, one day before the South Korean presidential election took place. They were reported to have discussed the direction of inter-Korean relations following the launch of the new administration.

NIS chief Kim briefed the presidential transition team on the meeting on January 10. At the briefing, South Korea’s Kim said, “The Grand National Party’s policies on North Korea won’t be significantly different in terms of basic reconciliation and cooperation,” adding, “The incoming administration will be able to pursue more drastic North Korean policies than the incumbent administration because it is better positioned to be persuasive with the South’s conservatives.”

Kim Yang-gon showed interest in whether his southern counterpart would maintain his current post in the new administration. Kim Man-bok explained that, in the South, the NIS chief is replaced immediately after a new administration takes office. Kim Yang-gon expressed his hope that inter-Korean relations will be maintained, saying that the two Koreas have held more inter-Korean talks than ever.

It is not clear if the NIS chief discussed the North Korea visit with Lee Myung-bak, who was running for office at the time the meeting was arranged. However, some observers have expressed the possibility that Kim would have conveyed a message from Lee to the North, even though the election had not yet taken place at that time.

In the meantime, North Korea’s spy chief was reported to have made a secret visit to Seoul on September 26, about a week before the second inter-Korean summit, which was held in Pyongyang on October 2-4, 2007.

Kim Man-bok’s visit to Pyongyang was made to reciprocate a visit by Kim Yang-gon to Seoul, made September 15-16. At that time, the two were meeting to discuss the agenda of the impending inter-Korean summit, held in October of last year. According to various sources, Kim Yang-gon also met with President Roh Moo-hyun to talk about the summit agenda during a one-night and two-day stay in Seoul.

Presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon remarked, “As far as I know, officials from both spy agencies were in contact and had discussions on the success of the inter-Korean summit. It would be desirable not to confirm the content of the discussions in detail.”

The NIS recently held an unofficial briefing on this matter for the transition team, the sources said. A key official of the transition team, however, denied that it was briefed on Kim Yang-gon’s visit to Seoul by the NIS.


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