Amateur intelligence service

Evidence has found that National Intelligence Service agents broke into a hotel room of an Indonesian presidential delegation aide at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul Wednesday. The spy agency officially denied involvement but declined to elaborate, causing suspicion to mount. If the agents did break into the room, the incident in and of itself is a shameful act for South Korea, not to mention a diplomatic gaffe.

The incident occurred at a time when South Korea is engaged in fierce competition with Russia and other countries to export its advanced trainer jet T-50 to Indonesia. South Korea has yet to export a single unit of the T-50, a model which required investment of 2 trillion won (1.8 billion U.S. dollars) to develop. South Korea failed to export the trainer to the United Arab Emirates in 2009 and Singapore last year. The latest incident has added an obstacle to efforts to export the plane. The Indonesian government has demanded an investigation to find the truth behind the break-in. Seoul should conduct a thorough probe, tell Jakarta the truth, and make every effort to minimize a diplomatic backlash.

The National Intelligence Service is the country’s supreme spy agency tasked with safeguarding national interests. The National Intelligence Service Act specifies that the organization’s tasks are “collection, compilation and distribution of domestic and overseas intelligence, and domestic (national) security information,” and the National Assembly’s intelligence committee reviews the agency’s budget under strict confidentiality. A fierce war of intelligence is waged behind the scenes when South Korea receives a foreign mission or delegation from a foreign head of state. The agency might have committed an error because it was not vigilant. Last year, a South Korean agent was caught by Libyan authorities for conducting inappropriate intelligence activities in Libya and was deported. Rep. Lee Sang-deuk of the ruling Grand National Party, who is also the elder brother of President Lee Myung-bak, resolved the crisis by almost begging Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi. What will Seoul do for Jakarta to resolve the latest incident?

If this mishap is any guide to the poor capacity of national intelligence, what does this mean for South Korea’s ability in operation and intelligence gathering vis-à-vis North Korea, which requires far more confidentiality and tension? The North recently completed a launch pad for intercontinental ballistic missiles at the village of Dongchang-ri in North Pyongan Province. Signs also suggest that Pyongyang is poised to conduct a third nuclear test at the village of Punggye-ri in North Hamgyong Province. Seoul cannot afford to be negligent for even a single moment in its intelligence gathering to effectively grasp Pyongyang’s intent given that next year is when the North claims it will become “a strong and powerful nation.”

South Korean intelligence chief Won Sei-hoon should find out the truth behind the incident and be ready to resign to take responsibility. This incident is not something Seoul can afford to downplay and become lenient again, and thus fail to regain order at the spy agency. If the agency loses credibility and tarnishes its reputation, it will be extremely difficult to rebuild.