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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Park Jie-won, who was recently nominated by Moon to be the new director of the National Intelligence Service, back in April 2018 at the Blue House. (Blue House photo pool)

Key figures in the ruling Democratic Party are viewing the surprise nomination of Park Jie-won to head the National Intelligence Service (NIS) as a message that signals a strong commitment to improving inter-Korean relations while urging the US government to adopt a more forward-looking stance.

Meeting with reporters on July 5, a key Blue House official explained that Park’s nomination was fully the decision of President Moon Jae-in and carried multiple layers of meaning. “The recommendation [to add Park to the national security] team came through various channels,” the official said, before adding that the “traffic control by bringing him on board as NIS director was 100% President Moon’s decision.”

Most crucially, Moon appears to have taken note of Park’s ongoing calls for the administration to move proactively and aggressively to improve ties with Pyongyang. Park, who helped orchestrate the first-ever inter-Korean summit in June 2000 as the culture and tourism minister, has advocated a proactive “autonomy” approach in multiple interviews, claiming that the US was “responsible for the strain on inter-Korean relations” and maintaining that the unification minister should “have it out with the US when there are problems with it being too excessive with its sanctions [against North Korea].”

Indeed, Park has expressed the strong conviction that while South Korea-US coordination is essential for the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula, the South Korean government should not allow itself to be unilaterally swayed by the US’ positions. For this reason, some observers in and around the Blue House have said that his nomination as the NIS director carries the message that South and North Korea will do more to speed along improvements in their relationship -- and that the US should present a more forward-looking stance in response.

Regarding Moon’s decision to make Park the NIS director, the Blue House only said that it came shortly after a luncheon on June 17 with veteran figures involved in inter-Korean relations. During that luncheon, Park discussed the administration’s failure to take proactive measures against the scattering of propaganda leaflets by North Korean defector groups. At the time, he stressed that a “law must be enacted to prohibit the leaflet scattering.”

The Blue House took great care to maintain security during the roughly two-week vetting of Park that followed. Even within the Blue House, only a select few officials were aware of his nomination, sources said. A frequent presence on broadcasts, Park appeared on one live program as recently as 15 minutes before the announcement of his nomination without letting on. During that final appearance, he “significantly” delivered a farewell message expressing “thanks for having me on” -- but no one understood the significance at the time.

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

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