NIS should be partly blamed for ghost stories over anti-terrorism act

The anti-terrorism bill has finally passed the plenary session of the National Assembly, as the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea ended filibuster with its floor leader Lee Jong-geol delivering the final speech. The anti-terrorism bill has been made into law in 15 years since the first draft was submitted in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. It is fortunate that South Korea has now secured means to effectively cope with not only North Korea’s threatening of terrorism but also acts of terrorism by international terrorist groups amid heightened inter-Korean tensions.

Opposition lawmakers who joined filibuster criticized the anti-terrorism bill by claiming that if the anti-terrorism bill passes, the National Intelligence Service will have power and authority above the law, which can even monitor sensitive personal information and financial data of the public. The lawmakers raised concerns that the intelligence agency will be able to collect information on individuals’ ideology and political views, medical records and sexual data based on its arbitrary judgement. Some progressive, left-leaning organizations, including the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, also supported those critics by saying that privacy will effectively be compromised because the NIS will have the right to inspect communications and banking data of all people. They also claimed that if the NIS will be allowed to conduct onsite inspection, access documents, collect samples without reservation, demand testimony and submission of information, and trace information as it pleases and deems necessary, the new act is feared to cause human rights violations. It is ill-advised for the opposition party to attack the anti-terrorism act by going so far as to resorting to ghost story-like arguments, such as "people who consume meat tainted with mad cow disease could get mad cow disease" back in 2008.

Their claim is malicious in that it seeks to disregard the intention of the anti-terrorism bill that limits the targets of such inspection to members of terrorist organizations or dangerous figures, by portraying the public as potential victims. They can make such a claim because they consider the NIS "the hub of evils." The anti-terrorism act is designed to hand heavier punishment for abuse and misuse of power through fabrication of facts, and includes a safety apparatus, namely the human rights protection officer.

However, people who remember the agency's former illegal activities have suspicions that the NIS could stage a spying plot at the pretext of terrorism prevention. Kwon Young-hae, who headed the Agency for National Security Planning (the predecessor of NIS chief) during the Kim Young-sam administration, was found guilty for certain internal projects ahead of presidential elections, while Lim Dong-won and Shin Geon, heads of the agency during the Kim Dae-jung administration, received guilty verdicts for illegal eavesdropping. Won Se-hoon, the NIS chief during the Lee Myung-bak administration, was arrested for involvement in illegal postings of online comments ahead of the 2012 presidential election. Likewise, pledges to reform the NIS has often proven to be blank rhetoric. In order for the anti-terrorism act that has barely passed the National Assembly to be implemented properly, the NIS should first overcome its dark history of the past, and regain trust from the public