Prosecutors Raid National Intelligence Service Headquarters

On August 19, the Seoul Central District Public Prosecutor`s Office wiretapping Investigation team investigating the former Agency for National Security Planning (ANSP) and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) for alleged wiretapping, raided the headquarters of the NIS in Naegok-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul.

It is an unprecedented move by prosecutors to raid the supreme national intelligence organ, and it is difficult to find similar examples abroad.

Deputy Director of Seoul District Prosecutor’s Office Second Division Hwang Gyo-ahn, in charge of the investigation, said, “We received a raid warrant from the court in order to find evidence of crimes and to answer national questions related to wiretapping, and we executed it strictly.”

The prosecution sent a raid team composed of about 30 members, including Yoo Jae-man, director of the First Special Division of Seoul District Prosecutor’s Office, and seven other prosecutors and 30 investigators on the morning of August 19 to NIS headquarters.

Computer experts from the Supreme Public Prosecutor`s Office and civilian communication device experts were also on the raid team.

It is reported that the prosecution focused on searching the scientific security bureau in charge of wiretapping and surveillance and that was said to have been dismantled in October 2002 by the NIS, and other places where equipment and records were kept and disposed of.

The prosecution’s raid of the NIS is seen as an attempt to break the impasse surrounding the wiretapping investigation that has so far been halted by unreliable records received from the NIS and the lack of cooperation shown by former and current NIS agents.

Tae-Hoon Lee jefflee@donga.com