DJ Kidnap and Jungsu Scholarship Foundation Cases to be Probed

National Intelligence Service’s Past Injustices Investigation Committee (head: Reverend Oh Chung-il) announced seven cases to be probed first on the morning of February 3 at the National Intelligence Service in Naegok-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, marking the start of the committee’s investigation in earnest.

The seven cases to be probed are the first and second Inhyukdang and Minchung Hakrnyeon cases, the kidnapping of former president and then opposition leader Kim Dae-jung, the disappearance of the former chief of the Korea Central Intelligence Agency, Kim Hyeong-wook, the bombing of Korean Air Flight 858, the Namhan Chosun Workers` Party`s Central Region case, the forced contributions of the Buil Scholarship Foundation and the sale of the Kyunghyang Shinmun (the so-called Jungsu Scholarship Foundation case), and a North Korea spy case dubbed the Dongbaekrim case.

The committee, which consists of 15 government and civilian experts, includes two managers, professor Ahn Byung-wook at the Catholic University of Korea and Kim Man-bok, director of planning and adjustment of the NIS, as well as 20 investigators. They will carry out the investigation for two years (the investigation can be extended for one year).

However, Professor Ahn said in a press conference that day, “We expected that the NIS kept data which could have offered decisive evidence to help us get to the bottom of cases. But now that the data was not sufficient, it seems to be harder to approach the truth than expected,” expressing the difficulty of the investigation.

Head of committee Oh explained in the opening remarks of the press conference, “Among suspicious incidents directly or indirectly associated with the NIS, we selected those cases which invited much suspicion in society and in which civic groups and bereaved families constantly expressed suspicion.”

The committee will mainly review and utilize NIS data first in probing the cases. But it will also seek cooperation in data sharing with outside agencies including the prosecution, police and Defense Security Command, and listen to confessions and testimony from associated persons through interviews. The committee said that it would continue to select cases to be probed among some 90 suspicious cases based on basic investigation results while considering the state of investigation on the seven cases mentioned.

taewon_ha@donga.com