Prosecutors Question Former Intelligence Officials in Wiretapping Case

The investigation team of the Seoul Central District Public Prosecutors’ Office summoned former and current employees of the National Security Planning Agency (NSPA, the predecessor of the National Intelligence Service) on September 27 to look into how the “X-file,” the wiretapped material confiscated from former NIS high-ranking officials, was made and released.

The prosecution reportedly summoned the ex-director in charge and “A,” who was known to have delivered the file that Grand National Party lawmaker Chung Hyung-keun made public before the 2002 presidential election for the same purpose.

Also, on the same day, at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly’s inspection of the Seoul Central District Public Prosecutors’ Office, wiretapping during the Kim Dae-jung administration became an issue.

Meanwhile, the prosecution stated earlier last month that they had not checked out the contents of 274 tapes confiscated from Gong Un-Young, the former leader of the secret bugging team, called “Mirim,” of the NSPA.

“We didn’t check out the contents of the tapes; we only checked out whether the tapes were illegally wiretapped,” said Lee Jong-baek, director of the Prosecution Bureau at the Ministry of Justice.

Lee added that making the tapes public is impossible because it is a violation of the Communication Privacy Protection law. “In-depth consultations are underway within the prosecution to determine whether the investigation into the contents of the tapes is legal,” said Lee.

When Democratic Labor Party lawmaker Roh Hoe-chan asked about the possibility of using the contents of the “X-file” had made public through the press, Lee responded that currently the material is not used for investigation purposes, and that consultations on such use are underway.

woogija@donga.com