KOREA: GNP Calls for Assembly Probe Into Spy Story

Uri Party plans to take legal measure against a right-wing weekly magazine for supporting the Grand National Party's accusation that a Uri Representative is a North Korean spy

The Korea Times
Friday, December 10, 2004

By Park Song-wu

The opposition Grand National Party (GNP) on Friday demanded a parliamentary investigation be launched into the alleged spy case of Rep. Lee Chul-woo of the ruling Uri Party.

GNP floor leader Kim Deog-ryong urged the governing party to clarify why it allowed Lee to run for the April elections, asking, "Who else in South Korea needs to keep the flag of the Workers’ Party and portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il?"

Rep. Chang Yoon-seok, who represents the GNP at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said, "We must embark on parliamentary probes into this case to shed some light on the prosecution and court documents."

While showing the 1993 Supreme Court ruling on his case, Lee failed to present a two-page portion of the critical contents that describe the court order confiscating the flag and portraits.

The 44-year-old, who represents a constituency in Kyonggi Province, later said he lost them, arguing that he was tortured to make false statements even though there were no such materials in his possessions.

But the GNP members rebuffed Lee’s claim as a lie because he didn’t take exception to the repressive measures, including torture, even though he had chances to include them in his statement of reasons for appeals.

A focus on this case is whether the "Minhaejon" (Patriotic Front for National Liberation), which he joined in 1992, was actually the local branch of the North Korean ruling party in South Korea.

The GNP argues that the two secret organizations are actually the same body, saying Hwang In-oh, a high-profile spy who led the Minhaejon, confessed the truth in his 1997 memorandum. But Hwang, 48, told media that Lee, then a low-rank operative, was not aware of such a secret, which was shared only by leaders of the local chapter at that time.

Meanwhile, the ruling camp defied the GNP with a threat to bring criminal and civil lawsuits against Rep. Joo Sung-young and two others of the conservative party for their defamation of Lee as a member of North Korea’s Workers’ Party.

"It turned out to be an obvious `hit-and-run’ tactic as Joo later explained that his remarks (in the plenary chamber) were only political rhetoric," Lee Bu-young, Uri Party chairman, said. "We have no choice but to call the GNP leadership to account."

Joo told reporters that his statement on Lee’s "secret maneuver" in the National Assembly was only "political rhetoric."

Uri Party officials also decided to take legal measures against a right-wing weekly magazine, which was cited by the three lawmakers as supporting evidence for their argument, while seeking their expulsion from the National Assembly by filing the case before the parliamentary ethics committee.

Rep. Kim Hee-sun even raised the necessity of limiting lawmakers’ privileged rights, saying, "Such a groundless accusation should not be protected by privilege of exemption from liability."

On Wednesday, Lee was accused by the GNP members, led by Joo, of joining the Workers’ Party in 1992 and serving for the Pyongyang regime as a spy until now. Lee immediately denied it, presenting the written judgment of the Supreme Court on his case.

Joo and his colleagues quoted an article in the weekly Mirae Hankuk (Future of Korea) as saying that Lee has worked for the communist regime under the code name "Daedunsan 820."

The GNP’s bombshell came as the Uri Party is trying to annul the anti-communist National Security Law. South Korea still has many conservatives who have knee-jerk reactions toward leftist ideologies.

In 1992, the prosecution demanded a 12-year prison term for Lee who was accused of joining the Minhaejon in Chunchon, Kangwon Province. But he actually received a four-year prison term in 1993 from the Supreme Court, which didn’t recognize the prosecution’s argument that Lee was a member of the Workers’ Party.

Date Posted: 12/10/2004