Information Committee Ruling Party Whip: "Yoon Will Convey Position on Wiretapping at Summit"

"Merkel's Cell Phone Eavesdropped on for 10 Years"
"Defense Ministry and JCS Positions, Eavesdropping Prevention Is Basic"

Amid controversy over the U.S. spying and wiretapping issues involving our diplomatic line, Yoo Sang-beom, the senior spokesperson of the People Power Party and the ruling party's secretary on the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, predicted that President Yoon Suk-yeol will fully convey our position to the U.S. side at the upcoming South Korea-U.S. summit scheduled for the end of this month.

On the 11th, Yoo said on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' that "due to the peculiarities of intelligence activities and the special nature of government operations, these matters may not be publicly mentioned diplomatically."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

While President Yoon may express concerns about spying and wiretapping at the South Korea-U.S. summit, it is unlikely that related details will be disclosed publicly. Yoo stated, "It won't be publicly mentioned, but he will sufficiently express his opinions," adding, "it will be diplomatically managed."

The opposition party views the relocation of the presidential office as one of the causes of the spying and wiretapping. Kim Byung-joo, a four-star general and member of the Democratic Party of Korea, claimed on MBC Radio the previous day that the presidential office's relocation was rushed, resulting in inadequate installation of anti-spying and wiretapping facilities. In response, Yoo said, "The place where the presidential office moved to was the building where the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were located, and that building's top priority is security," adding, "Wasn't there a U.S. Forces Korea base right next door? Preventing eavesdropping and wiretapping is a basic measure because of that."

He continued, "If spying and wiretapping had occurred due to the relocation, does that mean that the previous building (housing the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff) was wiretapped the entire time? That person (Kim Byung-joo) worked there," and said, "If you ask someone who worked there about the security at that time, they would definitely say that security was thorough then." This means there is no issue with the building's security itself.

Yoo also stated that spying and wiretapping by the U.S. on its allies have existed since the past. He said, "In the information revealed by Snowden in 2013, it was controversial that 'Chancellor Merkel's phone was wiretapped for 10 years.' It is a well-known secret that intelligence agencies, including the U.S. CIA, conduct wiretapping openly. It is quite absurd to claim that this suddenly happened because of the Yongsan relocation."

Yoo emphasized that our government should establish a clear stance on spying and wiretapping. France and Israel, mentioned in the leaked documents this time, immediately clarified their positions as "false information." Yoo said, "It would be better if we clearly stated our position like France or Israel, saying 'this is disinformation, or we provided counterintelligence,' but there is some regret about that," adding, "In any case, it is important to use this opportunity to create thorough countermeasures internally, especially regarding security and related issues like wiretapping."