Request to the Blue House for Support of Song’s Entry

It has been confirmed that the Korea Democracy Foundation which promoted the entrance of Korean-German professor Song Du-yul into Korea had officially asked the Senior Secretary to the President for Political Affairs, Yoo In-tae, and the Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs, Moon Jae-in for support in inviting the professor back into Korea.

According to a National Assembly inspection data which Min Bong-gi (Grand National Party), the director of National Assembly’s Committee on Local Autonomy, received from the Foundation, KDF had sent an official correspondence, titled ‘Request for Support in Granting Exit and Entry Rights to Foreign Advocates of Democracy’, to the two officials of the administration on June 23.

The Foundation claimed that the official correspondence signed by the Foundation President, Park Hyung-kyu, stated “We have provided an opportunity for Korean-national advocates of democracy abroad to visit Korea in year 2002, but among them, some could not visit Korea due to immigration control regulations.” It added, “We hope for the support of the participatory government, which promotes reforms and unification, so that the visits could take place.”

In this official correspondence, besides Professor Song, other names such as Yoo Tae-young, Jung Kyung-mo, and Lee Su-ja were mentioned and plans for the ‘Event with Korean Advocates of Democracy Living Abroad.’

Min also claimed, “Taking the content of the official correspondence into consideration, President Park probably promoted all sorts of activities, including the invitation of Professor Song through close ties he had with some Blue House officials.”

Meanwhile, at the National Assembly’s Local Autonomy Committee’s investigation of regional police headquarters, Chief Superintendent General, Choi Ki-moon said, “Judging with the information we have, I believe we have enough proof to investigate Professor Song on the suspicion of espionage.”

When asked “Does the police view Prof. Song as a spy?” by representative Jung Woo-taek(United Liberal Democrats), Chief Superintendent General Choi answered, “There is a high possibility.”

Related to the issue, Jang Joon-young, the President’s Civil Society Secretary said, “On June 23, we received and registered ‘Request for Support in Granting Exit and Entry Rights to Invited Foreign Advocates of Democracy’ from the KDF and requested the Office of Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs to confirm it with related organizations.”

Secretary Jang added however, that “at the elder statesman meeting with the President on March 6, although we knew about the correspondence Mr. Park had brought, but as we decided it was an inappropriate topic to bring up, we did not talk about it then nor did we register it as an official correspondence.”

Meanwhile, Na Byung-sik, permanent director of KDF said at the Local Autonomy Committee questioning that he “met with four high officials of the National Intelligence Service, including the 2nd Vice-Chief, Park Jung-sam, in a restaurant in Jongro on August 4, and heard some information about Mr. Song. They were talking about the possibility that Song could be a member the Worker’s Party and that he is suspected of being involved Oh Gil-nam’s entrance to North Korea.”