Thorough probe called for in NIS election meddling scandal

Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Thursday offered a public apology over a recent conflict between senior prosecutors in charge of investigating a high-profile election meddling scandal involving the National Security Service (NIS), a state spy agency. He pledged that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors` Office will leave no stones unturned in investigating the case and seek a fair trial to present accurate facts to the public. The apology came belatedly, considering that internal conflicts within the prosecution has been publicly exposed and that there are controversies over the fairness of the proceedings in the probes into the spy agency`s scandal.

It is natural for the prosecution to seek to find the truth about the suspicion over the NIS`s alleged intervention in last year`s presidential election. However, it is true that the recent conflict between the senior prosecutors and investigators gave the impression that senior prosecutors or the Justice Ministry were putting pressure on prosecutors in charge of the investigation. In that respect, Hwang`s apology and promise of a thorough investigation should be considered to be reflecting President Park Geun-hye`s intention. What is left is for the prosecution to restore order within its organization and do its best to find the truth about the NIS case.

Even investigations with the most legitimate purposes, however, should abide by due legal procedures. In that respect, it should not be condoned that the prosecution`s investigators ignored internal rules on reporting and failed to abide by a law on NIS calling for advance notifications prior to investigating NIS agents during the process of raiding four NIS agents suspected to have been involved in the case. Moreover, the investigators reportedly pretended to be employees of a public gas utility company to enter the houses of the NIS agents and seized their computer hard drives and mobile phones without presenting due warrants or winning the NIS`s approval. The NIS claims that the prosecutors humiliated or coerced its agents during the investigation. Even investigations of ordinary citizens must not be conducted that way.

The NIS law requires the prosecution to inform the NIS chief of any investigation involving its agents not because the agents need favorable treatment but because they consider information security as important as their lives. There is no reason for treating NIS agents favorably. However, it does not mean that prosecutors can disrespect due legal procedures in investigating them. Many people criticize the prosecution for being too arrogant.

Those whose job is to investigate other people`s illegal acts should abide by law and order more strictly. Probes with procedural faults cannot have legitimacy. Both the prosecution and the NIS should return to their own due places. The starting point is to strictly abide by law and order in everything they do.