Lawmakers indicted for leaking inter-Korean summit transcript

Posted on : 2014-06-10 16:45 KST Modified on : 2014-06-10 16:45 KST
Prosecution not made, potentially setting dangerous precedent about politicized use of secret info

By Kim Won-chul, staff reporter

During the 2012 presidential campaign, Saenuri Party (NFP) lawmaker Jeong Mun-heon, 48, handed over the transcript of the 2007 inter-Korean summit to Saenuri lawmaker Kim Moo-sung, 63, who was head of the party’s office for election measures, and Kwon Young-se, 55, current ambassador to China, who was head of the party’s situation room, investigating prosecutors have concluded.

Despite this, while the prosecutors summarily indicted Jeong, they decided not to prosecute him for putting the transcript to political use during the election campaign, even though the transcript was not supposed to be made public.

On June 9, the first security division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (directed by Lee Hyun-cheol) summarily indicted Jeong for leaking the content of the transcript, which he had accessed during his time as secretary of unification for the Blue House, and for quoting it outside of the National Assembly during press conferences and media interviews. The prosecutors asked the court to fine Jeong 5 million won (US$4,920) for these actions, which constitute a violation of the Public Records Management Act.

Finding that Jeong’s quotation of the transcript during the parliamentary review of the Unification Ministry and a press conference held at the National Assembly were protected by his immunity as a lawmaker, the prosecutors concluded that they had no basis to indict him

The prosecutors decided not to prosecute a number of other people that the Democratic United Party (predecessor to today’s New Politics Alliance for Democracy, or NPAD) had brought charges against in connection with the leaked transcript. In addition to Kim and Kwon, these were Saenuri lawmakers Seo Sang-gi, 68, Cho Won-jin, 55, Cho Myung-cheol, 55, Yun Jae-ok, 53, former National Intelligence Service (NIS) director Nam Jae-joon, 70, and the NIS first deputy general manager Han Gi-beom, 59.

At the same time, the special team of investigators at Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (led by Lee Jeong-hoe) which investigated the NIS’s interference in the presidential election summarily indicted NPAD lawmakers Kang Gi-jung, 50, Lee Jong-geol, 57, Mun Byung-ho, 55, and Kim Hyeon, 49, and charged them with confining Kim Ha-young, 30, an agent from the NIS’s psychological warfare division. The prosecutors asked that each of the defendants pay a fine of 2 million to 5 million won.

Concluding that NPAD lawmaker Woo Won-sik, 57, had only been lightly involved in the events, the prosecutors gave Woo a suspended indictment, and they decided not to press charges against lawmakers Yu In-tae, Cho Jeong-sik, and Jin Seon-mi.

The prosecutors’ decision to only summarily indict Jeong Mun-heon despite their acknowledgment that he had leaked state secrets was criticized by observers who suggested that this could send the dangerous message that it is permissible to use state secrets in an election.

 

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