Park Ji-won "Regrettable to Involve National Intelligence Service in Politics... Undermining Reform"

Park Ji-won, Director of the National Intelligence Service, is attending the full meeting of the Intelligence Committee held at the National Assembly on the 22nd. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Park Ji-won, Director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), recently expressed regret over the controversy surrounding 'election interference' raised mainly in political circles and emphasized responding according to the law.

According to intelligence authorities on the 25th, Director Park said at a recent closed-door meeting, "It is very regrettable to try to drag the NIS back into the political arena," adding, "It is a regression of the NIS reform." This remark came amid the Democratic Party of Korea pushing for a special law related to the illegal surveillance by the NIS during the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations, while opposition parties such as the People Power Party criticized it as 'election interference' with the upcoming by-elections in mind, revealing his discomfort.

He also emphasized that information disclosure is strictly based on Supreme Court rulings. Director Park stated, "Recent media reports are due to the fact that parties involved requested disclosure according to the Supreme Court ruling, and the requested materials were released to the media," adding, "The NIS has no authority to dictate how the parties use the materials." After the Supreme Court ruled in November last year to disclose information related to former Seoul Education Superintendent Kwak No-hyun and others, the NIS formed an internal information disclosure task force and has disclosed a total of 115 cases to date.

Director Park added, "The NIS has no reason to hide (past surveillance) materials," and "The task force currently operating to respond and cooperate with information disclosure requests will be elevated to an official organization." He said, "Although past illegal surveillance was wrong, it is even more inappropriate for the NIS under the Moon Jae-in administration, which has maintained political neutrality, to use or allow these materials to be used politically," emphasizing, "We will respond strictly according to the law, neither exceeding nor falling short of it."