President-elect Roh Considers Establishing an Intelligence Supervisory Committee

President-elect Roh Moo-hyun is said on Jan. 10 to be reviewing an establishment of ‘Intelligence Supervisory Committee,’ that will be in charge of monitoring the activities of the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The move is to prevent the NIS from meddling in the domestic politics.

In order to strengthen the function to watch and control over the NIS, Mr. Roh and his aides are also considering a plan that will extend the authority of the Intelligence Committee in the National Assembly to screen and control over the NIS. In addition, the plan will prevent the NIS from meddling in the politics, by clearly defining the scope of duty of the officials.

Along with this, prohibition of the NIS senior officials from entering into politics for five years after their retirement is being discussed to prevent them from leaking confidential information with a connection to the political arena.

“We are reviewing a plan to establish an individual standing supervisory system or strengthen the supervision of the National Assembly as part of the NIS reform,” said a related official. “Before making a decision, we’ll carefully examine Mr. Roh`s promise to discontinue the domestic intelligence gathering function of the NIS and reorganize it to an office of overseas intelligence,” he added.

“President-elect Roh is focusing on improving the negative image of the nation due to the alleged wiretapping of the NIS during the presidential election and restore the status as a national intelligence agency. He has been collecting opinions through various channels including the New Millennium Democratic Party,” he said.

In the meantime, MDP’s spokesman, Lee Nak-yeon said, “There is a possibility that the selection of a new director of the NIS and a chief presidential guard will be postponed after the inauguration on Feb. 25. Mr. Roh is expected to consider many different factors before appointing a NIS director.”

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com