Spy Games: Did South Korea's Intelligence Forge Information?

Spy Games: Did South Korea's Intelligence Forge Information?

(LinkAsia: 3/14/14) Already under fire for dirty tricks during the 2012 presidential election, South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, is now accused of forging evidence in a spy case. South Korean broadcaster MBC reports on the new NIS revelations after one of their alleged collaborators went public. And in Pakistan, social media users are complaining that a drought in Sindh Province has become a political football. While more than 900,000 have been affected, with dozens of children dying from starvation, some say their lawmakers are either using the opportunity to criticize rival parties, or using it to boost their profiles.

http://www.linktv.org/video/9366/spy-games-did-south-koreas-intelligence-forge-information

NIS helper faces arrest for evidence fabrication

Prosecutors on Friday sought an arrest warrant for a Chinese national on charges of forging Chinese immigration records to help Seoul’s main spy agency frame a North Korean defector for espionage, prosecution officials said. 

The 61-year-old ethnic Korean with Chinese nationality, only identified as his surname Kim, is under suspicion of forging immigration records purporting to be the defector’s and handing them over to the National Intelligence Service, they said.

After putting Kim under an emergency arrest from a Seoul hospital where he was recovering from a suicide attempt last week, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul probing the case said it has asked a court to issue the warrant to further question him. 

The Seoul Central District Court will hold a hearing Saturday to review the prosecution’s request and determine whether to issue an arrest warrant for Kim, court officials said. 

The high-profile case involving Yoo Woo-seong, a 34-year-old defector who worked for the Seoul city government, began when prosecutors charged him with carrying out espionage activities for Pyongyang’s spy agency. 

After a local district court acquitted Yoo of espionage charges in August 2013, allegations have risen that the NIS obtained or produced the fake immigration records and handed them over to the prosecution. 

During previous rounds of questioning, Kim told investigators that he fabricated at least one of three immigration records that the NIS was aware of the forgery, prosecutors said. 

Meanwhile, an NIS agent was called in by prosecutors Friday to face questioning over suspicions that he received the alleged forged immigration records from Kim, sources at the prosecution office said. 

The prosecution office summoned the midranking agent, only identified as his surname Kim, as a suspect in the case, the sources said.

The latest development is dealing another blow to the NIS, which is still reeling from allegations that it attempted to sway public opinion ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

The country’s main opposition party is urging President Park Geun-hye to reprimand the NIS chief, saying that the agency deceived the public with the alleged false evidence.

Civic groups also demanded Park to revamp the NIS as the public lost credibility in the intelligence agents for allegedly fixing key evidence in a court case. (Yonhap)

Opposition coalition initiates official groundwork for new party

The main opposition Democratic Party and maverick lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo on Sunday began formal groundwork for a new coalition party to be launched later this month to challenge the ruling camp in the upcoming local elections and ultimately in the next presidential race.

Some 330 members each from the DP and Ahn's party-in-the-making "New Political Vision Party" convened for the first official meeting to discuss guidelines for the party's launch scheduled for March 26.

DP leader Kim Han-gil and entrepreneur-turned-politician Ahn were elected co-chairmen of a preparatory committee that serves as the control tower in launching the fledgling new party that was announced just two weeks ago.

The new party's name in Korean roughly translates as "New Political Vision Democratic Party." Ocean blue was adopted as its official color, staying with the bluish hues used by both sides.

"The new party name literally means mutual respect and equal coalition by the two sides. The name also contains public calls for 'new politics,' and the DP's history and tradition," spokesmen of the preparatory committee said.

The name was selected from suggestions received through a public campaign and approved by the two sides, the spokesmen said.

The two sides agreed to form a new party on March 2, a surprise move that upended the political landscape ahead of nationwide local elections on June 4, seen as a confidence vote on the incumbent Park Geun-hye administration that marked its one-year anniversary late last month. (Yonhap)

Two More Fall Victim to S. Korean Fraudulent Election Cover-up

Two More Fall Victim to S. Korean Fraudulent Election Cover-up

By Og Lim

Han (left) and Kim (right) are submitting the document on a nullity suit

Han Young-su (60) and Kim Pil-won (67), co-authors of “White Paper on Fraudulent Election” written about December 2012′s South Korean presidential election, have been arrested Friday, according to a local media report.

The Seoul Central District Court has issued an arrest warrant for these 2 people, saying that they had undermined the reputation of the officers of the National Election Commission (NEC) by providing false information about the officers in their book.

The eight officers from the NEC filed a suit last October against Mr. Han and Mr. Kim, claiming that these two had undermined the reputation of the officers of the NEC by giving false statements in their book that the NEC was involved in the fraudulent election and its concealment.

 Han and Kim are waiting while their arrest warrants are being reviewed

The police have already sent the case to the prosecutors with no charges. However, the prosecutors then requested an arrest warrant, claiming that the book constitutes the defamation of the NEC officers since it falsely describes some officers having admitted wrongdoings during the election process.

“White Paper” has been banned from being sold or advertised about since last January when the court accepted the request for injunction from the NEC.

Han and Kim filed in January 2013 for a nullity suit for the 2012 presidential election for no hand counts having been performed in ballot counting and for the fact that there was the interference with the election by state agencies. No trial date has yet been set as of today. As a general rule the court is supposed to make its ruling within 6 months of the election if there is any suit against it.

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