hankyoreh

Feb. 21. (Photo by Kim Myoung-jin)　 　 　 　

Lotte Hotel

By Shin Seung-keun, Staff Writer　

Allegations that National Intelligence Service employees secretly entered the hotel room of a delegation of presidential envoys from Indonesia have sparked a growing controversy, with bipartisan calls for the replacement of NIS Director Won Sei-hoon. Meanwhile, Jakarta’s official request for Seoul to verify the allegations has increased the possibility that the matter could flare up into a diplomatic incident.

“The facts reported in the press to date are themselves a serious matter that NIS director Won Sei-hoon needs to take responsibility for,” said A key official in the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) on Monday. “Depending on what the investigation uncovers, Won may also need to express his intent to resign.”

A second-term GNP lawmaker from the Yeongnam region, a traditional GNP stronghold, said, “For a situation of this level, we should remove the NIS director.”

At a briefing, main opposition Democratic Party (DP) spokeswoman Jeon Hyun-heui said, “Intelligence wars among the different countries of the world have been intensifying, but nowhere else in the world do you see an intelligence agency committing such a beginner’s level error.”

“For the damage to national prestige and the national shame resulting from the Lee Myung-bak administration’s incompetent espionage efforts, we need to see responsible measures, including the dismissal of the NIS director,” Jeon added.

An official with the intelligence authorities said, “While an intelligence agency can collect intelligence in secrecy, with this incident the entire process was misguided, from the preparations to the execution and the handling afterwards.”

“As time goes by, this will become more and more of a burden for the president, so the NIS director would do well to take political responsibility and quickly step down,” the official said.

Politicians are planning to convene the National Assembly’s intelligence committee as early as next week in order to determine the facts of the incident. DP Secretary Choi Jae-sung, who sits on the committee, held at press conference at the National Assembly on Monday where he said that the incident “saw the NIS deteriorate recently to the level of a Naegok-dong private investigator’s office.” Choi stressed the need to bring to light the facts behind a series of NIS scandals, including the trailing of United Nations special rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression Frank La Rue, the expulsion from Libya of an NIS employee working there, and the leaking of facts about a top-secret U.S. visit by Won.

At a regular briefing Monday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) spokesman Cho Byung-je said that the Indonesian ambassador to South Korea, Nicholas Tandi Dammen, visited the ministry Monday morning and met with Park Hae-yun, the director of its South Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, in connection with the infiltration of intelligence agency employees in the guest quarters of the Indonesian delegation.

“The Indonesian government requested that we verify the precise facts of the situation, and we agreed to let the Indonesians now as soon as we have done so,” Cho said.

Korean National Policy Agency Commissioner Cho Hyun-oh caused a stir with remarks during a meeting with reports Monday as he said in response to the allegations that one or more of the intruders was an NIS employee, “There is no benefit in punishing [those responsible] if it comes to light.” With the party in charge at an investigating institution seemingly placing national interests as a first priority, observers say Cho is unlikely to avoid charges that the police lack the determination to investigate the case.

The police also added to suspicions by failing to give a full account of the intruders’ course of entry and flight. The police said they had not yet determined how the three individuals escaped, despite three closed circuit television cameras being installed on the 19th floor of the building. One of the questions surrounding the case is how they managed to open the door of the hotel room, which requires the use of a key card. Attention is focusing on the possibility that the NIS employees may have opened the door with the help of someone within the hotel.

In a press briefing Monday, the police did confirm that an NIS employee visited Seoul’s Namdaemun Police Station around 3:45 a.m. on Feb. 17 after the incident was reported and, after learning the content of the report, requested that the police “maintain security” to prevent the information from release to the public.

As a result, observers are speculating that the NIS may have made off with all of the investigation materials during the initial investigation stage. Police and hotel officials have issued a gag order on the relevant employees and are currently cracking down to avoid leakage of information to the outside.

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