Tension escalated between the main political parties on Tuesday over the testimonies from the spy agency chief who had denied during a parliamentary session the use of hacking software to conduct civilian surveillance.

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy condemned the testimonies as an attempt to cover up its wrongdoing while the ruling Saenuri Party urged the NPAD to stop inflating rumors that might compromise the nation’s cybersecurity. 

The partisan showdown came a day after the NIS chief Lee Byung-ho testified before a parliamentary closed-door session. Lee reportedly said the NIS had found no evidence of civilian surveillance after its internal investigation into files deleted by the deceased NIS official who purchased and used the hacking device.

“The NIS conducted the investigation on its own and was exonerated by the ruling Saenuri Party,” said NPAD floor leader Rep. Lee Jong-kul.

“As opposed to telling the truth, the NIS claimed innocence. It will be nothing but an insult to the National Assembly if the NIS continues to refuse to submit evidence,” said Lee.

NPAD accused the NIS of denying access to key evidence such as log files that contain every event of the usage of the hacking software purchased by the NIS. The opponent believes that the files will prove whether the hacking device targeted civilians. 

But the ruling Saenuri Party dismissed the NPAD’s call as an attempt to compromise the nation’s capability to conduct cyberwarfare with North Korea. The Saenuri Party condemned the NPAD for relying on “ungrounded evidence” in seeking political gains at the cost of national security.

“NPAD continues to request information that might reveal every detail of NIS cybersecurity capability,” said Saenuri Party floor leader Won Yoo-chul. “Although the NIS chief made abundantly clear that it had never spied on its own people, the NPAD continues to raise doubts over the allegation of civilian surveillance,” said Won.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)