Questions linger over Lee’s involvement

Lee Myung-bak

Key questions remained answered Wednesday, even after the prosecution concluded its investigation into illegal surveillance operations by indicting five figures, including former presidential aides for their involvement, among them, former vice knowledge economy minister Park Young-joon.

Was President Lee Myung-bak aware of the illicit activities of his aides before prosecutors brought them to justice? Did the man in the top job never receive a briefing on the results of the illegal surveillances as Cheong Wa Dae claims?

The answers to these questions remain elusive, for now at least. In a press release, Cheong Wa Dae stated Wednesday that it regrets that a few officials, who previously worked with the presidential office, were found to have been involved in the case.

“Cheong Wa Dae will check thoroughly (its officials) to prevent recurrence of this kind of unfortunate case,” it said.

The reaction came shortly after the prosecution published the results of its investigation.

Suspicions showed few signs of subsiding as opposition parties alleged that President could have been at the top of the chain of command in the illegal surveillance case.

Earlier, Rep. Park Young-sun of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) alleged there was an unofficial reporting route, citing a pile of classified government documents from some 2,600 surveillance cases.

The government denied the allegation, saying nearly 80 percent of the documents were made by the previous administration.

But Rep. Park pointed to the remaining 20 percent of documents as a source of her allegation that those files were allegedly reported to President Lee.

Even though the prosecution has concluded the case, allegations and suspicions linger on, probably because opponents are not convinced by the investigation’s results that omitted any mention of the link with the presidential office.

Jang Jin-soo, who was indicted for destroying computer hard drives containing information on illegal surveillance, disclosed several things that can support the possibility that Cheong Wa Dae could have been involved.

In an earlier interview, the former official of the Prime Minister’s Office claimed he received a phone call from an official at the presidential office ordering him to destroy the files.

“You can break them down with a hammer or dump them in the waters of the Han River. It’s your choice. But you must destroy them,” Jang quoted the official who called him. “Prosecutors are not going to ask you to answer how you destroyed them.”

The destroyed files reportedly have information on illegal surveillance on politicians, government officials, businessmen and people from all walks of life.

Later media reports said that Jang demanded a parliamentary seat on the proportional representation system in return for maintaining silence on the illicit activities.

Opposition parties said suspicions continue to hang in the air as the whistleblower’s remarks and disclosure of illicit activities linked to officials in the presidential office were not properly investigated. <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>

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