19th National Assembly starts Wednesday with allegedly pro-North Korea members


With the National Assembly opening Wednesday, concerns over security risks posed by the presence of so-called pro-North Korean members remain unresolved.

Debate over how to classify pro-North lawmakers and prevent leaks of state secrets through the Assembly’s standing committees is likely to intensify as the two major parties are set to negotiate the formation of the new parliament.

On Tuesday, the ruling Saenuri Party upped the ante against the left-wing Unified Progressive Party members in question, and called for measures to prevent them from joining security-sensitive standing committees such as those on defense and foreign affairs. Their concerns were echoed by President Lee Myung-bak, who issued a rare public denouncement of the pro-North forces on Monday by calling them a “greater problem” than North Korea itself.

Controversial members such as lawmakers-elect Lee Seog-gi and Kim Jae-yeon of the UPP are facing accusations of being pro-North, with some having received punishment for violating the National Security Law in the past or having joined groups and activities classified as benefiting “the enemy.”

Lee and Kim, along with two other proportional representatives, are set to officially join the Assembly, which opens this week, despite pressure to leave their party over a vote-rigging scandal.

The Saenuri members, in the meantime, vowed to take measures to prevent them from joining the respective standing committees.

“As it appears that the lawmakers in question will not be able to join the Defense Committee anyway, we plan to further discuss how to fundamentally prevent pro-North forces (from accessing state secrets),” Rep. Won Yoo-chul, who headed the Defense Committee in the 18th National Assembly, told The Korea Herald.

He was referring to earlier news reports that quoted the Saenuri’s Kang Chang-hee and Chung Ui-hwa ― who are vying for the seat of National Assembly speaker ― as saying they are against assigning seats on the defense and foreign affairs committees to the UPP lawmakers in question.

Won’s comments were echoed by Rep. Shim Jae-chul, who contended during the Supreme Council meeting that the National Assembly Act must be revised to prevent pro-North members from joining committees that handle confidential information, and to fortify the process in which lawmakers request that government organizations provide confidential documents. By law, the Assembly speaker, elected by the ruling party, is entitled to distribute seats of standing committees to a non-negotiating political party with fewer than 20 seats. The UPP has 13 seats.

The opposition parties denounced the president for prompting ideological debate.

“If the pro-North forces of South Korea are the bigger problem, the Lee Myung-bak administration should then answer for why it fostered such pro-North forces for the past four-and-a-half years that the people are concerned about,” said Democratic United Party floor leader Park Jie-won at a party meeting.

DUP spokesman Park Yong-jin also questioned the Saenuri members’ move to block UPP members from certain committees and said, “We may be able to discuss the idea if the Saenuri Party first legally review and deem whether it violates the Constitution or not.”

“Whether they are the forces of pro-North or pro-military coup, restricting any function of a lawmaker must be prepared naturally through public debate and verification, not as a way to gain a short-term upperhand that ignores the Constitution like the Saenuri does,” he added.

The UPP’s interim chairman Kang Ki-kap also criticized the president’s comments in a radio interview with MBC, saying, “It is pathetic and laughable that the president would bring up such outdated politics of prompting an ideological divide.”

While observers said the political parties are walking a fine line on politicizing the issue, they also said there are not sufficient measures to prevent an attempt by a parliamentary member to abuse state secrets.

“While any pro-North politicians would have maintained a low-profile in the past, the purported pro-North political forces have made themselves more public by officially joining the Assembly,” said Dr. Kwon Tae-young of the Korea Research Institute for Strategy.

“While it is a source of major concern, there are no specific measures that can prevent any (attempt to abuse confidential information),” Kwon said.

A Defense Committee member and his or her assistants, for instance, are given access to second-level confidential information that would include the status of smart weapons and development plans, military deployment plans and other military operations as well as information related to the U.S. Forces Korea.

About six members of the UPP, including Lee and Kim, are said to be pro-North Korea. Lee was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for heading the Gyeonggi division of Minhyukdang, or the “People’s Democratic Revolutionary Party,” created in 1992 under the “Juche” philosophy of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung. Lee Ui-yeop, who also served a prison term for his activity in Minhyukdang, chaired the UPP’s parliamentary campaign. Another lawmaker-elect, Lee Sang-gyu, was also cited as one of the Minhyukdang activists in a past court ruling, while Kim Jae-yeon was wanted for joining a group classified as benefitting the “enemy.”

Hwang Kyo-ahn, advisor to Bae, Kim and Lee LLC and an expert on the National Security Act, said that while it would be against the Constitution to ban them as lawmakers outright, limiting a member with a previous National Security Act violation conviction from certain activities may be plausible by revising relevant laws.

“The National Security Act would not be able to regulate those for simply being defined as ‘pro-North’ forces,” Hwang said. He explained a National Security Act violation refers to a specific action that benefits the enemy such as by collecting, spying and leaking state secrets, or praising the enemy at the risk of damaging the stability of the state.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)