Minister of the Interior Sang-min Lee: "Police Bureau Chief Soon-ho Kim Retained... No Evidence of Informant"

Minister of the Interior and Safety Sang-min Lee attended the National Assembly's audit of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety held on the 4th and was talking with Vice Minister Chang-seop Han before the start of the audit. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), announced that he has decided not to take personnel action against Kim Soon-ho, Director of the Police Bureau, who is under suspicion of being a mole, and to keep him in his position.

At the MOIS audit by the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee (PASCOM) on the 4th, Minister Lee responded to a related inquiry by Lee Sung-man, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, saying, "I have heard various opinions. I have not found any special reason to take personnel action."

On August 29, Minister Lee had responded to demands from some opposition lawmakers at the PASCOM plenary meeting to replace Director Kim by saying, "I am listening to various opinions," but on this day, he made it clear that there is no intention to replace Director Kim.

Minister Lee stated, "There are three reasons why I decided to keep Director Kim in his position," adding, "There are only speculations about so-called moles or betrayal, but no clear evidence; there was a judgment that the Incheon-Bucheon Democratic Workers' Association (Innohoe) was a pro-North organization for the past 30 years; and Director Kim has worked diligently in the police for 30 years and was promoted to Police Commissioner, the 'star of the police,' during the previous administration."

Assemblyman Lee pointed out, "It is regrettable and deplorable. Leaving Director Kim, who is suspected of being a mole, as is, goes against public sentiment."

Director Kim is suspected of having informed on his colleagues in the labor movement group Innohoe in 1989 and was specially recruited as a counterintelligence agent by the police as a reward. At that time, victims of Innohoe also raised suspicions that Director Kim acted as a puppet for the Defense Security Command (now the Defense Security Support Command) as a target of the recording project (ideological conversion operation) and actively reported on university circle trends.