Truth and Reconciliation Commission Recognizes Former Police Director Kim Sun-ho as Victim of Informant Coercion Operation

The 2nd Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Past Affairs (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) recognized Kim Sun-ho, the first Director of the Police Bureau at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (currently the President of the Korean National Police University), who has been suspected of being a secret informant, as a victim of a forced informant (kkeunapul) operation.

On the morning of the 2nd, when the Police Bureau officially launched, Kim Sun-ho, the first Police Bureau Chief, listened to reporters' questions and smiled at the Police Bureau inside the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the 31st, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced at its 65th plenary meeting that it had decided to uncover the truth about the "Forced Conscription of University Students and Forced Informant Operation" case and recognized 101 people as victims. Former Director Kim is included among the victims. The Commission recommended that the state apologize to the victims and take measures to restore their honor.

A representative of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said, "We are reviewing whether to investigate whether former Director Kim engaged in informant activities," adding, "The decision on whether to investigate is delayed due to the backlog of cases."

On August 23 of last year, the Civic Group Solidarity of National Democratic Martyrs and Victims requested the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate allegations that former Director Kim was a secret informant. Ten days later, former Director Kim himself applied for truth verification, claiming he was also a victim of the ideological conversion operation called the "Green Light Project."

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Republic of Korea Army Security Command (currently the Defense Security Command) used the Green Light Project to persuade students involved in the student movement to become informants. During the persuasion process, students were forcibly conscripted into the military and subjected to torture and threats.

Former Director Kim was forcibly conscripted into the military in 1983 after being classified as a target of the Green Light Project while participating in the student movement at Sungkyunkwan University. Later, he allegedly acted as an informant and was specially recruited by the police for national security in 1989 in exchange for informing on colleagues in the labor movement group Incheon-Bucheon Democratic Workers' Association.