[Editorial] It Was Money That Brought About North-South Summit?

There is no eternal secret. A senior member of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party popped up an explosive secret open. He said, "Hyundai Marine Merchant gave a secret political aid to North Korea with the help of the National Intelligence Service. The money wired to North amounted to 223.5 billion won [or approximately $187 million]." Literally, it was perplexing. We couldn`t find any word to describe how we feel. For the past several months, the entire nation was haunted by the ghost story. Now, we got to know the truth. But we do not feel relieved. We just feel devastated. So far, Kim Dae Jung administration has boasted of its monumental achievement of having a summit of North and South leaders for the first time since the division. But, the "achievement" was "achieved" through cutting a dirty deal with North.

Following up on the investigation by the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea, the prosecution is said about to launch its own probe. But this matter poses too grave a problem to leave it in discretion of the prosecution. At the time Hyundai doled out the huge amount of money to North, Lim Dong-won headed the intelligence agency. He is now the special foreign affairs and national security aid to President Kim. It is Lim who has managed all the programs being pursued jointly by North and South. In addition, just prior to the summit, the money was handed over to North. That is why people suspect that it was the secret deal that brought about the "achievement."

All parities involved, including Lim, NIS officials and Hyundai chairman Chung Mong-hun, should reveal all the things they have kept under the rug so far. We have to know whether President Kim knew of the secret aid, and what impact the aid would have had on the summit. Under these circumstance, if Kim Dae Jung administration and Hyundai decide to silence through this turmoil, they will end up calling for a more serious disaster.

It is doubtful why the explosive disclosure is made at this sensitive moment of transition. Moreover, it was the key member of the ruling party that made such shocking announcement. About 2 weeks ago, Chief of Staff-designate Moo Hee-sang made a controversial comment on the secret deal and said, "The Kim administration should reveal whatever it has to do and take all the responsibilities before the end of Kim`s term." We suspect whether Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Dae Jung, teamed up with each other, are trying to dump everything onto Hyundai, and exonerate President Kim by defining the issue as a political question.

If it is true that money bought the summit between the two Koreas, it will constitute a grave challenge to the national security. The outgoing and incoming administration should keep in mind that the nature of this matter does not allow them to put the things under the rug through political maneuvering.