SEOUL, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- South Korea's former spy chief is expected to deny allegations that nation's past president was involved in dirty tricks.
Lee Jong-chan, former director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), is expected to make a statement soon, denying allegations that former President Kim Dae-jung and spy agency chiefs were involved in, or at least aware of, illegal eavesdropping during Kim's 1998-2003 administration, the Korea Times reported Monday.
Lee served as the first NIS director under the former president for 15 months beginning in March 1998.
Ever since Lee returned from an extended stay in Hawaii last Thursday, he has attracted public attention as tensions between the former president and the current South Korean government intensified over the recent NIS announcement that illegal wiretapping continued during the early period of the Kim government, the paper said.
Former President Kim and his aides, as well as former NIS directors during his government, denied any knowledge of the illegal practices, but have refrained from giving detailed explanations.
Lee, who spearheaded the drastic reform of the spy agency personnel and dismantled the agency's wiretapping unit, codenamed Mirim,'' is expected to claim that no wiretapping had been ordered by the presidential office of Chong Wa Dae or NIS chiefs, the Korea Times said.
Lee is considering submitting a detailed report to the Intelligence Committee of the National Assembly, his aides said.
Following last week's unprecedented raid on the NIS headquarters in Seoul by the prosecution, prosecutors are planning to bring in former Uri Party lawmaker Chun Yong-taek, who headed the spy agency after Lee, and other former and incumbent NIS officials for questioning. In addition to Lee and Chun, Lim Dong-won and Shin Gunn headed the NIS before March 2002 during the Kim administration.
During the raid, the investigators found a record of the spy agency's use of the cell phone-bugging device, but whether the list included the names of influential political figures, business leaders or journalists like the X-File audio tape scandal is not known, the Korea Times said.
The scandal erupted last month when local news media released information from illegally-recorded tapes of a conversation between Korean Ambassador to Washington Hong Seok-hyun, then president of the Samsung Group-affiliated daily, JoongAng Ilbo, and Samsung vice chairman Lee Hak-soo discussing providing slush funds to presidential candidates in 1997.
