[Editorial] Pres. Park can’t use summit transcript to hide from NIS scandal

The National Intelligence Service decided to go all out with its surprise release yesterday of 2007 inter-Korean summit minutes that had previously been classified. The whole ordeal was carried out like a military operation, without any decorum toward a former president, the late Roh Moo-hyun, without any of the conventional legal reasoning on designated presidential records, and without any concern for a process of bipartisan political consensus.

There is no need to reiterate just how illegal this kind of political interference by the NIS is. This is yet another example of scandalous behavior after its meddling in last year’s presidential election, only this case is far more ostentatious. This kind of brazen, overt move would be impossible without the approval - or even order - of the Blue House. That is why President Park Geun-hye must be held accountable for the NIS’s actions.

The reigniting of the controversy over remarks made at the 2007 summit is inextricable from the efforts to head off any questions over the legitimacy of Park’s election. The Saenuri Party’s desperate attempts to prevent a parliamentary audit of the NIS’s election-time actions and the NIS’s own disclosure of the records both have the basic goal of shielding her. In view of the seriousness of the situation, the relationship between the president and the NIS, and the Blue House’s micromanagement of affairs, it is impossible to believe the Blue House was not involved.

Also noteworthy is the timing of the disclosure, which came right after Park first broached the possibility of a parliamentary investigation. Yesterday, she declared that she had “not given the NIS any kind of help or received any help from it during the last election.” She also waved off questions about an investigation, saying it was “a matter for the National Assembly to discuss, not the President.” Far from denouncing the NIS’s political interference, she actually seemed to be throwing her support behind it. This contrasts sharply with her behavior at a June 24 meeting of the Blue House senior secretariat, when she called the improper payment of government subsidies a “criminal act” and demanded that comprehensive steps be taken in response. She apparently considers the NIS’s interference in a presidential election to be a less important issue than wrongful payment of subsidies.

Not only do Park’s statements not reflect the facts, they also make no sense at all. With their charges of violation of the Public Official Election Act, prosecutors have already affirmed that the aim of the NIS’s online operation during the election was to help Park’s chances for the presidency. It doesn’t matter how much help they gave, or how much it contributed to her win. What the public wants from Park now is an answer on just how she sees this case as the country’s leader, and what she plans to do to put a stop to this kind of political meddling by the NIS. Her response was a total non sequitur.

Her argument that an investigation is a matter for politicians to decide and not something for the Blue House to intervene in is also poorly founded. The logic may seem sound, but it is merely a way of trying to squeeze the administration out of its tight spot. It’s also cowardly to pass everything on to parliament as though she weren’t there, when the very issue of her election’s legitimacy is posing an obstacle to an investigation.

Park really should have resolved the election meddling and inter-Korean summit transcript issues before she visits China on June 27. Instead, she made the mind-boggling choice to release the transcript of a former President’s summit. It’s hard to imagine what kind of serious dialogue she can now expect to have with the leadership in Beijing. Past administrations that abandoned reason and common sense tended to face a rocky road. The black cloud of this huge misjudgment may well continue to follow Park even after she leaves office.