More evidence that NIS forged documents to frame man as a spy

Posted on : 2014-02-19 12:01 KST Modified on : 2014-02-19 12:01 KST
Foreign Minister’s comments cast doubt on NIS claims that documents used as evidence were acquired from the Chinese government
 Feb. 18. (by Kim Kyung-ho
Feb. 18. (by Kim Kyung-ho

By Kim Jeong-pil and Cho Hye-jeong, staff reporters

Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se reported “hearing there was no official request from the South Korean consulate in Shenyang” to issue two of the documents submitted by prosecutors in the appellate trial of Yoo Woo-sung, an ethnic Chinese refugee from North Korea and former Seoul city official accused of espionage.

The documents include a record of transit between China and North Korea for Yoo, 34.

Yun’s account suggests that the documents, which the Chinese government is claiming were forged, were not acquired by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) through formal procedures. If true, that would lend credence to claims that the prosecutors and NIS fabricated evidence in the case, as Yun’s remarks amount to an official refutation of NIS claims that the documents were acquired through the Shenyang consulate.

Yun was speaking on Feb. 18 during a hearing of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee. When asked by Democratic Party lawmaker Park Byeong-seug whether it was true that the Shenyang consulate had formally requested three documents from China, Yun replied, “I have heard that there was no formal request for the three documents from the South Korean consulate.”

“Does that mean the consulate never formally made the request to Chinese authorities or received the documents from them?” Park then asked.

“All I can tell you is that there was one document, the [border transit record] issuance certificate issued by the security bureau in Helong, that was acquired by the Shenyang consulate at the request of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office,” Yun replied.

But Yun also said he could “not confirm” when asked by ambassador for overseas Koreans and consular affairs Lee Jeong-gwan whether this was the same document submitted to the court by prosecutors.

The consular affairs division of the Chinese embassy in Seoul has claimed that three official documents submitted as “official correspondence” in Yoo’s appeal trial - conducted by the 7th criminal affairs division of Seoul High Court under judge Kim Heung-jun - are forgeries. These include a record of Yoo’s transit between China and North Korea that was reportedly issued by the Helong security office, the office’s confirmation that the record was accurate, and a letter attesting that the description of the transit record’s circumstances submitted by Yoo and his counsel was not lawfully drafted.

Yun’s remarks suggest that only the second of these, the authenticity certificate, was issued to the Shenyang consulate by China at the prosecutors’ request. The consulate is claiming “no knowledge” of the other two.

Both prosecutors and the NIS have said the two unaccounted-for documents were submitted to the prosecutors by the NIS after being acquired through the Shenyang consulate.

With Yun casting doubts on the NIS account, the question now is how the NIS acquired documents that Beijing is claiming are forged. The confirmation that they were not acquired through normal channels raises the possibility that illegal methods were used.

In response to the Chinese consular affairs department’s claims to Seoul High Court that the documents were forged, Yun said, “There was never any request made to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Chinese government or Chinese embassy in Seoul.”

 

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