Южнокорейскую разведку обвинили в шпионаже за оппозиционными депутатами. Спецслужба утверждает, что депутаты искажают факты.


The nation's spy agency is facing allegations that it spied on opposition lawmakers who have been critical of the Park Geun-hye administration.

According to the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), Thursday, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) obtained phone conversation records of two of former MPK Chairman Rep. Moon Jae-in's secretaries between last October and November from mobile firms. In addition, incumbent leader Kim Chong-in's secretary also had his communications records checked in January.

"It is true that the NIS collected their records from mobile providers," said MPK deputy spokeswoman Yoo Song-hwa.

Under the law, investigating authorities can ask mobile carriers to provide their users' communications records without a warrant, but only regarding matters of national security.

The record-checking took place on Oct. 12 and Nov. 20, during disputes over the government's push for state-authored history textbooks and passage of an anti-terrorism bill, respectively.

"It is a huge problem, given that the NIS collected communications records of the opposition party leaders' secretaries. It is an apparent political offense and human rights abuse against the opposition," the deputy spokeswoman said.

This is the latest of many examples of the NIS collecting information on the private communications of opposition lawmakers.

On March 17, Rep. Yoo Ki-hong said the NIS received communications records from SK Telecom twice _ in October and December _ claiming that the spy agency conducted investigations to suppress opposition to the state-authored history textbooks on Nov. 18 and that Rep. Chang Ha-na, another MPK lawmaker, had her information collected by the NIS on Jan. 7. The Cheongju District Prosecutor's Office also checked Chang's records on Oct. 13.

In addition, the NIS checked the records of an official of the MPK's secretariat last June and November, when Moon was in office.

In the wake of the NIS' latest information collection scandal, the MPK has instructed its party members to see whether their records had been checked by the agency.

In response to Rep. Yoo Ki-hong's claim, the spy agency announced plans to sue the lawmaker on charges of agitating false claims surrounding its duties.

"While we clearly explained the process behind acquiring the communications records, Yoo is now distorting the facts to present the agency as suppressing the opposition lawmakers," the NIS said, adding it will not tolerate anyone taking advantage of the spy agency for political purposes ahead of the April 13 general election.

As for Chang's case, the agency said her records had been checked because the lawmaker's telephone number was in the call history of a person of interest linked to an investigation.

The NIS has frequently been under fire for its meddling in politics.

During the election campaign in 2012, former NIS chief Won Sei-hoon was accused of ordering agents to post tens of thousands of messages online criticizing the opposition party's presidential candidate, Moon Jae-in.

The case is still pending after the Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling sentencing Won to two and a half years in jail for violating the Public Election Law.