hankyoreh

By Jung Hwan-bong and Jin Myeong-seon, staff reporters
On May 30, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced the arrest of two people. Among them was Lee, 74, a political prisoner and businessman. He was arrested on charges of collecting military secrets for North Korea, a violation of South Korea‘s National Security Law. [The names of former prisoners have been changed for this article.]
There are a number of apparent inconsistencies in the police’s announcement, including the fact that Lee is not a former long-term unconverted political prisoner, as the report describes him. Unconverted long-term political prisoners are individuals who were arrested for political activities, such as ideological support for North Korea. At the conclusion of their sentences, they are offered parole on the condition of signing a document declaring a change in their political views, but refuse to do so.
Investigation by the Hankyoreh has shown that Lee signed a written declaration of his changed views in February 1990. After stating that his ideology had changed, he was released on parole.
Since leaving prison, Lee has not associated with former political prisoners. An official at a group that supports unreformed political prisoners claimed, “Mr. Lee has adapted extremely well to capitalism and earned a lot of money. His character is totally different to those of other long-term unconverted political prisoners that still campaign for unification.”
As a condition of Lee‘s release, he must regularly report to a police official in his district of residence. The official responsible for monitoring Lee’s activities said, “He is very different from most [former long-term unconverted prisoners], who advocate submission to the North. His stance is similar to that of a businessman.”
Nonetheless, the Metropolitan Police Agency issued a press release depicting Lee as a former long-term unconverted political prisoner. “Long-term unconverted political prisoners did not sign declarations of ideological conversion, and began being released from prison around 1994,” said one former such prisoner.
“I doubt that this is really a case of spying, in view of the fact that [the police] lied and said that he was a long-term unconverted political prisoner, even though [the facts] can easily be confirmed through the Ministry of Justice.”
Also suspicious is the police‘s choice to reveal nothing of the background of Kim, 56, the man arrested with Lee. It has been independently confirmed that Kim worked for a Korean military supply contract firm before emigrating to New Zealand in 2001.
Another cause for suspicion is the failure of the police to book former military supply contract company boss Jeong, 61, who is believed to have played a role in stealing military secrets. Details from the police investigation indicate that, despite the fact that Jeong, a GPS expert, was directly involved in the stealing of military secrets, he was only investigated as a witness. It has also been confirmed, moreover, that, although media reporting the incident described Jeong as the boss of a national defense company, he in fact belonged to a civilian aerospace firm. “We are still investigating Jeong, as we have a lot of things to confirm about him,” said a police official.
When choosing a lawyer to represent him, Lee chose differently from others accused of violating the National Security Law. Normally, such cases are handled by lawyers belonging to Lawyers for a Democratic Society. Lee, however, appointed a lawyer from a mainstream law firm. The lawyer retired from his position as a senior last year after a career as a “defender of public security.”
A close acquaintance of Lee said, “Lee and the other members of his family have strongly conservative tendencies. They appointed their lawyer because he was a well-known expert in public security.”
　
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