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National Intelligence Service director says another inter-Korean summit to be held “in near future”
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) announced that another inter-Korean summit “will be held in the near future.”
The report from the NIS came during a closed-door plenary session of the Intelligence Committee at the National Assembly on Nov. 22 with NIS Director Suh Hoon in attendance, Liberty Korea Party (LKP) ranking committee member Lee Eun-jae said. Lee quoted the NIS as saying during the report that day that the South Korean government must “continue to insist on holding [the summit] on our side, since the last summit was held in Pyongyang.”
“The date is only being given as ‘the near future,’ which could be within the year or not,” Lee also reported the NIS director as saying.
According to Lee, no mention was made of any “particular variables” in the process leading up to the summit.
The NIS director also reported that it was closely observing the international hacking activities that North Korea has been regularly involved in.
“North Korea regularly engages in hacking, and the NIS director confirmed that it is monitoring things closely and making all the necessary preparations,” Lee reported.
“It’s been said there had been a breach [of a government agency as reported in the press], but they did not mention which agency it was specifically,” he added. The Dong-A Ilbo newspaper reported on Nov. 22 that North Korea had attempted to hack into government agencies including the Blue House and Ministries of Unification, Foreign Affairs, and National Defense even around the time of an inter-Korean summit.
Regarding the 2019 budget for the NIS, Lee said, “It includes an increase by 100 billion won (US$88.6 million) due to the introduction of radar and other video equipment and a raise in government official pay, which the Intelligence Committee’s budget committee is set to examine.”
By Jung Yu-gyung, staff reporter
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