hankyoreh

Nov. 15. (pool photo)

By Sung Han-yong, political correspondent

Prosecutors said on Nov. 15 that the transcripts of the 2007 summit between then South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il were “deliberately deleted or destroyed on orders from President Roh” to prevent them from entering the National Archives.

Two former Blue House unification, foreign affairs, and national security policy officials, office director Baek Jong-chun and secretary Cho Myung-kyun, were indicted without detention and charged with violating the Presidential Records Act and damaging a public electric record by allegedly destroying drafts on Roh’s orders.

The opposition Democratic Party and the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation fired back at what they called “politicized targeting” by prosecutors, arguing that failure to send the document reported as a final version to the Presidential Archives was the result of a staff oversight.

This is the latest chapter in a long-running political battle touched off ahead of last December’s presidential election after the camps of then President Lee Myung-bak and Saenuri Party (NFP) candidate Park Geun-hye orchestrated a campaign accusing Roh of “abandoning” the Northern Limit Line with North Korea in the West (Yellow) Sea based on alleged comments in the transcripts. The saga continued even after the election, with the National Intelligence Service (NIS) releasing the transcripts, the National Assembly voting to read the meeting minutes, and now the disappearance of a portion of the transcripts.

And with prosecutors unlikely to uncover all the facts about how lawmaker Kim Moo-sung got his hands on the summit transcripts, the NLL scandal appears poised to become a millstone for the duration of Park’s term as president.

In announcing their findings, the prosecutors said they “hope the controversy over historical facts does not continue, and that these findings can help mark an end to that.”

But the numerous holes in the findings - not to mention their overt political bias - appear likely to only fuel further controversy.

An example is the omission of any explanation as to why Roh would have ordered transcripts not delivered to the archive when he had no reason to do so - especially when he had summit transcripts and recordings on file with the NIS.

In addition to the minor nature of the differences between the draft and the revised version ultimately submitted to the NIS by Roh, the fact that prosecutors based their claims of deliberate deletion on an incomplete document in which the president ordered revisions, additions, and reexamination in order to “post an accurate and polished transcript on e-Jiwon [the Roh administration’s information management system],” appears likely to feed claims that the investigation is an example of political targeting.

“Following the inter-Korean summit, Cho Myung-kyun completed the ‘2007 Inter-Korean Summit Record’ with the assistance of the NIS, attached it to a document management card for the e-Jiwon system on October 9, 2007, and received final approval from President Roh Moo-hyun on October 21,” the prosecutors’ account read. “Mr. Cho then altered part of the transcript on orders from President Roh, drafting a Class 1 confidential record with changes to titles, names, and language considered inappropriate for a summit, and the document received approval from President Roh.”

The prosecutors’ description of the events goes on to say that Roh “gave orders to have the records stored at the NIS with Class 1 confidentiality, while also ordering the deletion of the file from the e-Jiwon system, saying the record ‘should not be left for the Blue House.’”

“Baek Jong-chun and Cho Myung-kyun delivered the President’s orders to the NIS along with the redacted Class 1 confidential record, and Mr. Cho destroyed separate meeting documents in his possession,” the prosecutors charged.

The Democratic Party’s inter-Korean transcript investigation team held a press conference to rebut the claims. “According to the prosecutors’ announcement, the decision to change ‘solution’ to ‘cure’ was based on the actual recording,” the team said. “Other than that, there were apparently a few alterations to ‘inappropriate’ parts of the draft, and there were even cases where the wrong speaker was given.”

“There is a clear difference in quantity and quality between the draft and the final version, such that the final version is five pages longer while including everything from the draft,” the team added. “The draft is simply an incomplete version, not a record.”

The DP took particular issue with prosecutors’ claims that Roh had ordered the deletion and destruction of the draft, which they called “something made up by the prosecutors.” They also noted that Cho had denied the charges during his questioning by prosecutors.

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