[Editorial] Intelligence Chief’s Suspicious Visit to N.Korea

National Intelligence Service Director Kim Man-bok is known to have secretly visited North Korea on December 18, the day before the presidential election. His office said, “His visit was intended to set up a monument in front of the pine tree that President Roh (Moo-hyun) planted in a central botanic garden in Pyongyang during the inter-Korean summit in early October.”

What a joke. Who would believe that the chief of national intelligence secretly visited North Korea just before the presidential election to set up the monument? Is he always that available?

President Roh needs to give an explanation because he obviously allowed Kim’s visit. The entire public sector should have been fully immersed in a state of emergency the day before the election. If Kim left his position to visit Pyongyang while working-level law enforcement executives were on emergency stand-by, there must have been a different reason. If President Roh refuses to give an explanation, the National Assembly should shed light on the truth in a hearing. This is something not to be overlooked.

Rumors are swirling over a “North Korea wind plot” ahead of the presidential election. Many guess that the liberal camp asked the North for a type of cooperation in a desperate attempt to reverse their deficit in the polls. Others say President Roh was trying to get North Korea’s parliamentary leader Kim Yong Nam to visit to Seoul before the end of President Roh’s term in office. Some even say intelligence chief Kim sought to discuss President Roh’s visit to North Korea after Roh stepped down from the presidency, something which had been mentioned during the inter-Korean summit.

Considering the past deeds of both the Roh administration and North Korea, these rumors hardly seem negligible. Ahead of the election, Pyongyang bluntly opposed the Grand National Party’s seizure of power. The Roh administration also promised an extraordinarily large number of economic cooperation projects and subsidies at the inter-Korean summit despite rising worry from the majority of the South Korean people. Since intelligence chief Kim’s visit was made under this context, and in secret, it is not surprising that many suspect a “trade” between the Roh administration and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

These actions would have been unimaginable if President Roh and intelligence chief Kim were both sane. Though Kim’s visit was for a good cause, he should have avoided it on the day before the presidential election. While a member of the opposition party, President Roh himself urged politicians not to use inter-Korean relations for political purposes.

The transition committee of President-elect Lee Myung-bak will strictly inquire about intelligence chief Kim’s visit to North Korea, starting with a brief to be made today by the National Intelligence Service.