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By Shin Seung-keun, Staff Writer　

“I am not expecting [spy drama] ‘Iris’-level espionage. But if you cannot do a better job than Kim Ha-neul in the comedy ‘My Girlfriend Is an Agent’ .... In a word, it is pathetic.”

“If you get caught breaking and entering, you should cover it up and keep the whole thing quiet. They are really a bunch of fools.”

Bipartisan criticism of the National Intelligence Service’s (NIS) “detective agency-level” intelligence gathering abilities have been erupting from lawmakers in the wake of a botched infiltration operation in the hotel room of an Indonesian delegation of presidential envoys. The lawmakers have lambasted the NIS for allowing the situation to reach its current state rather than getting matters under control after an incident resulting from poorly conducted intelligence activities.

However, a number of members of the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee who are familiar with the circumstances in the NIS have come out with statements that the poor quality of operation has been a deeply rooted problem since the arrival of Director Won Sei-hoon, someone who lacks knowledge about intelligence organizations.

The international embarrassment in May of last year, when the license plate of an NIS vehicle was photographed as it was filming the activities of United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression Frank La Rue during his South Korea visit, and the episode in June in which an NIS employee who had worked as a diplomatic officer in Libya was caught gathering intelligence from documents due to a lack of knowledge of the local language, are only the most widely publicized examples of slipshod operations.

“We were able to examine the NIS’s low-level intelligence abilities last year with Rev. Han Sang-ryeol’s visit to North Korea,” said a GNP lawmaker on the Intelligence Committee. The lawmaker recalled asking for confirmation after receiving a report that the NIS was unaware beforehand of Han’s secret entry into the country. In response, the NIS delivered a report saying, “Rev. Han entered China by way of India and left for North Korea from Beijing Airport. The NIS is fully apprised of the situation.”

But after Han’s return, an investigation by intelligence authorities showed that Han had never stopped in India and that he had left for North Korea from Shenyang, the lawmaker said.

“I yelled at them, asking, ‘How is it that the NIS goes through hundreds of billions of won in taxpayer money every year and its intelligence activities remain below a basic level?’ But the NIS just said that there had been rumors at the time that he had gone through India, and that was what they reported,” the lawmaker recalled. “It was truly pathetic.”

A main opposition Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker on the Intelligence Committee said that the NIS “had inaccurate intelligence on key issues like Kim Jong-il’s health, the prospects for a nuclear test, and the postponement of the Workers’ Party of Korea meeting.”

“That is a more serious issue,” the lawmaker said.

On Sept. 13 of last year, Won appeared before the intelligence committee and reported on the expected date for the holding of the WPK meeting of party representatives, the top item of interest at the time. “We expect that the meeting will take place within this week,” he declared at the meeting. Since this was a major event in terms of gauging changes in North Korea, including the official adoption of a framework for the succession of power to Kim Jong-un, Won’s statement was interpreted as an official confirmation that the meeting would be held on Sept. 15.

But Won’s report was showed to be misjudged when a Sept. 21 report by North Korea’s Korean Central Television announced, “The party representatives’ meeting for the election of the party’s supreme leadership body is to be held on Sept. 28.”

Ruling and opposition party members of the intelligence committee reportedly criticized Won in the wake of this announcement, charging that he had prevaricated based on no additional intelligence beyond the WPK Political Bureau’s official announcement that the meeting would be held during the early part of September.

Sources also reported a number of cases where confidential information was casually given up without any concern for security matters.

“The NIS reports we get in the intelligence committee are generally at a low level, to the extent of which everything has already been reported in the media, but sometimes I have been astonished to see NIS officials talking casually about state secrets, such as the current status of confidential equipment possessed by the NIS,” said another GNP lawmaker on the Intelligence Committee.

“Because Won Sei-hoon has a complex about never having handled intelligence before, he has often been too quick to give up confidential intelligence in response to even casual questions,” said another DP lawmaker on the Intelligence Committee.

In response, a GNP committee member said, “This kind of thing keeps happening over and over as Won, a former administrative official with the city of Seoul who is not an intelligence expert, misjudges the value of intelligence.”

A DP committee member said, “Won Sei-hoon, a key associate of President Lee Myung-bak is a threat to the organizational culture of the NIS, which is an intelligence organization.”

A GNP lawmaker on the committee said, “Right now, there is not a single government office or organization that the NIS has not reached into.”

“Their gathering abilities for overseas and North Korean intelligence have diminished due to an excessive allocation of capabilities to the area of domestic intelligence,” the lawmaker added.

“The NIS’s involvement in the surveillance of civilians is ultimately the result of putting more manpower than necessary into the domestic area,” the lawmaker said.

“There needs to be an evaluation of the NIS’s organizational changes.”

Meanwhile, another DP lawmaker said, “The NIS’s intelligence abilities have weakened dramatically under the Lee Myung-bak administration as appointments have been made based on relationships of familiarity with the director, an emphasis on connections, and loyalty rather than intelligence expertise.”

“In the absence of capabilities and the presence of pressure to produce results, we are seeing things like this hotel break-in,” the lawmaker said.

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