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Former NIS Directors Nam Jae-joon

An investigation into the National Intelligence Service (NIS) providing special activity funds to a slush fund for former President Park Geun-hye continues to expand with the Nov. 17 arrest of former agency directors Nam Jae-joon, 73, and Lee Byung-kee, 70, on charges of making the payments. The situation is also spilling over into the political world, with allegations that the NIS under Lee’s directorship made a separate payment of over 100 million won (US$91,400) to pro-park Liberty Korea Party (LKP) lawmaker and former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Choi Gyung-hwan, 62.

With the arrest of two former NIS directors who have been implicated in the payment of special activity funds, the prosecutors’ investigation is gradually escalating. Nam and Lee were charged on Nov. 17 with bribe offering and loss of national treasury funds, a violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, Article 5. The arrest warrant was issued by Seoul Central District Court chief warrant judge Hon. Kwon Soon-ho, who said the “reason and necessity for detention are recognized due to considerable grounds for concern about criminal action by the suspects and the destruction of important evidence.”

At the same time, the court also rejected a warrant request for former NIS director Lee Byung-ho, 77. Analysts suggested this may have been due to the fact that unlike Nam or Lee Byung-kee, Lee Byung-ho admitted to “making payments on personal orders from Park Geun-hye” in a Nov. 16 warrant review (pre-detention suspect questioning).

But with Lee’s period as NIS head marked by the largest payments – between 2.5 and 2.6 billion won (US$2.3–2.4 million) – and the agency’s coverage of 500 million won (US$457,000) in illegal opinion survey costs on the Blue House’s behalf, prosecutors are not taking the charges against him lightly. They currently plan to resummon Lee on Nov. 19 before reviewing whether to submit another warrant request.

The arrests of the former directors and Lee’s admission also bring the prosecutors another few steps closer to substantiating charges against former president Park. They currently have statements from former Blue House general affairs secretary Lee Jae-man, 51, and other members of the so-called “doorknob triumvirate” claiming that they acted on “orders from President Park” in receiving and transmitting the funds. With these statements, the prosecutors have obtained NIS accounting ledgers from between 2013 and 2016 confirming that anywhere from 50 million won (US$45,700) to as much as 200 million won (US$182,700) was transferred to the Blue House during that period. The NIS ledgers indicate the amount of special activity funds used by date, but do not specify where they were disbursed, sources said.

Observers in the legal and political communities are now watching intently to see whether the situation expands into a full-scale scandal for the political community. Under questioning by prosecutors, former NIS planning and coordination office chief Lee Heon-su, who oversaw the NIS’s budget and personnel affairs, reportedly claimed that in addition to the payments to the Blue House, over 100 million won (US$91,400) in special activity funds was given to then Deputy Prime Minister Choi Gyung-hwan between July 2014 and Jan. 2016. The money was allegedly given to enlist support for the NIS, which was then under pressure to reduce its special activity spending. Depending on what additional details Lee Heon-su and the former NIS heads provide, the NIS payment scandal stands to expand even further.

Prosecutors are maintaining an extremely cautious stance. An investigative team source was tight-lipped on whether Choi was being investigated. “I can’t confirm that,” a source connected with the investigation said. The reticence is seen as reflecting concerns that the investigation could come across as targeting specific politicians in the pro-Park camp.

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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