Former NIS Chief Leaked Classified Information

The prosecutors investigating former National Intelligence Service Chief Kim Man-bok’s visit to North Korea reportedly concluded that he leaked classified information.

The prosecution reached the conclusion after thoroughly analyzing both the written statements that Kim submitted in mid-February and the results of an investigation into Kim on July 2.

Prosecutors are planning to charge Kim for leaking classified information without detention or suspend the indictment soon.

They believe that the report of his visit to North Korea and the written dialogues with Kim Yang Gon, the director of the United Front Department of North Korea’s Workers’ Party, he revealed to some former senior NIS officials and media outlets in January falls into the category of classified information, although the NIS did not officially categorize it as such.

The prosecution believes the documents should be classified as confidential in that disclosure of an NIS chief’s itinerary in North Korea and details of the dialogue he had with a senior North Korean official can affect inter-Korean negotiations.

Kim visited Pyongyang the day before the presidential election last year. Amid rising speculations over the reason for the visit, he revealed the documents in question to former NIS officials and media outlets in this past January.

So far he has maintained, “I visited the North to install a marking stone for the tree planted in commemoration of the 2007 inter-Korean summit, and disclosed the documents to dispel speculations over my visit.”

needjung@donga.com