NIS Admits to Having Accessed Classified Document of Lee

This paper reported on July 13 that a staff member of the National Intelligence Service was found to have accessed a document on the real estate purchase and holding of Grand National Party frontrunner Lee Myung-bak’s brother-in-law, Kim Jae-jeong (58). Regarding this report, the NIS said on July 13, “‘For the purpose of public service,’ an agent accessed the files at the database of the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA) in accordance with ‘due process of the law’ last year.”

The NIS added, “An internal inquiry is underway into why the agent accessed the database, whether he did so at the orders of a senior official and how the information was leaked to the outside. Thus far, we found neither that the access to the document was made at the request of a senior member nor that information was leaked.” The NIS further explained, “The accessed document was linked not to the real estate databases, but to the property records at the government agency.”

However, the NIS did not provide specific information on the purpose behind the agent’s accessing of the databases, which is leading to a growing suspicions concerning whether there was an order from a senior level, if it was leaked to the outside, and how the agent could have accessed the computer network of the government agency.

A senior MOGAHA official said, “The ministry has never allowed any staff members of the NIS or NIS to access our computer network. Only our 96 officials in the division were given IDs; therefore, it is impossible for the staff from the NIS to have direct access the databases.”

The Seoul Central District Court Special Investigation Team investigating the slander case of former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak, along with the confidential government document leak case, is expected to summon the NIS staff to find out how he could have obtained access to the databases and whether there was leakage to the outside.

The prosecution summoned Lee’s brother-in-law, Kim Jae-jeong, the complainant, on Friday and questioned him regarding the alleged speculative land purchase, and any preferential treatment in the land purchase of Hongeun Planning, the subsidiary of Das Co., where Kim holds its largest shares.

The Grand National Party called for the finding of truth regarding this issue to the president of the NIS, saying, “The document leakage seriously undermines the nation’s discipline.” Park Hyeong-jun, co-spokesperson of the Lee camp, argued, “We received a reliable report that the NIS established a task force team to hurt Lee Myung-bak’s reputation in March 2005. All such efforts are part of the Roh Moo-hyun administration’s political maneuvering to ‘base Lee Myung-bak.’”

yongari@donga.com needjung@donga.com