Won Sei-hoon, the imprisoned former National Intelligence Service chief, was summoned by prosecutors Tuesday over fresh allegations of an unlawful political maneuver by the spy agency under his direction.

Won, who led the NIS from 2009-2013 during the presidency of Lee Myung-bak, arrived from Seoul Detention Center for questioning at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office at around 2:00 p.m.

Won is now serving a four-year prison term for running a cyber campaign that saw hundreds of civilians and NIS retirees hired to influence public opinion in favor of then-conservative candidate Park Geun-hye in the runup to the 2012 election. She won the vote by a thin margin.
 

Prosecutors said this additional investigation into Won will initially be focused on his suspected misuse of state money worth 7 billion won (US$ 6.19 million) to support about 50 cyber teams and their covert operations, both online and offline.

Prosecutors have reopened the case after an internal NIS task force found that as many as 48 NIS-civilian cyber teams were operational under Won's leadership and were on an all-out mission to oppress those critical of the Lee government or who expressed liberal views.

The current law bans political interference by the NIS.

The task force has found NIS documents written during those years that show that a blacklist was compiled to prevent of artists and cultural figures unfriendly toward the conservative government appearing in mainstream media. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, a progressive politician, was also subject to NIS surveillance.

The prosecution said it will also question Won over whether and how often he reported to then-President Lee on the cyber smear campaign.

The investigation draws attention to the issue of whether it will eventually target Lee and bring the former leader in for questioning over the expanding scandal. (Yonhap)