Reviewing Legal Measures Against the Disclosure of National Secrets

As opposition lawmakers exposed national security secrets one after another during the National Assembly’s inspection, the ruling party is set to take strong measures such as reviewing legal steps to deal with the situation.

The government held an executive committee meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) yesterday with Unification Minister Chung Dong-young chairing. Through a press release, the government expressed its “deep regrets and apprehension,” saying, “Recently, during the parliamentary audit on national security, there were many cases where lawmakers spoke of ‘security worries,’ but actually made statements that pervert the truth and menace national security.”

The government announced, “Despite the government’s demand to lawmakers to refrain from releasing relevant information, some confidential information was leaked to the press, generating unnecessary security concerns among the public. We are against such acts and we will cope with the recent situation with every countermeasure possible to protect national security.”

The controversial issues concerning the leakage of national secrets are the divulging of “the government’s emergency plans when North Korea experiences sudden change,” and “the scenario of the fall of Seoul in 16 days when North Korea invades,” made by GNP representatives Chung Moon-hun and Park Jin, respectively.

In particular, the National Intelligence Service is set to launch a security investigation of the Unification Ministry as “the government’s emergency plans when North Korea experiences sudden change” was divulged. The Uri Party held an expanded executive council meeting yesterday morning and reviewed measures to bring opposition representatives before the National Assembly’s Ethics Committee and prosecute them, stating that the disclosures are in the same category as disclosures of second class military secrets.

Deputy floor leader Lee Jong-geol said, “We will scrutinize whether the creation and distribution of national secrets as press releases is protected by the immunity privilege granted to lawmakers, and we will review various legal measures.”

Meanwhile, the Unification Ministry stated, “Concerning the JoongAng Daily’s release of ‘the government’s emergency plans when North Korea experiences sudden change,’ we are deeply concerned about the ripple effects such an irresponsible story can bring, and we have decided to take all possible measures, including litigation.”

Yong-Gwan Jung yongari@donga.com taewon_ha@donga.com