Ex-spy agency chief denies meddling in election & refused to take an oath at the hearing of the National Assembly

Ex-spy agency chief denies meddling in election Won Sei-hoon, left, former chief of the National Intelligence Service, testifies during a hearing on a parliamentary investigation of the spy agency’s alleged intervention in the Dec. 19 presidential election, at the National Assembly, Friday. Another key witness, Kim Yong-pan, former Seoul police chief, looks on, who has been accused of scaling down a police investigation into the scandal. / Yonhap By Kim Jae-won Former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Won Sei-hoon denied allegations Friday that the spy agency intervened in last year’s Dec. 19 presidential election. During a hearing that was part of a parliamentary investigation into the NIS, Won instead said that agents posted written material on the Internet as part of its psychological warfare program against North Korea. He said he did not order his agents to launch an online smear campaign against opposition presidential candidates. “The postings by the NIS on the Internet were written as part of the anti-North Korea psychological war. They were not meant to intervene in the presidential election,” said Won. The prosecution indicted the 62-year-old close aide of former President Lee Myung-bak with physical detention in June, accusing him of interfering in the election by ordering officials of the agency to post thousands of missives on the Internet. Most of the writings criticized opposition candidates, including then-Democratic United Party Rep. Moon Jae-in and independent contender Ahn Cheol-soo, while praising ruling Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye who won the election. Won said that he expanded the psychological warfare department to cope with countering North Korea’s cyber attack bureau. “North Korea currently uses cyberspace as their base camp against the South. The Internet postings were written in this context,” he said. Won also said that he did not agree with the prosecution which indicted him on charges of systemically intervening in the election with the postings. He is in custody at a prison in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Won provoked reactions from lawmakers at the hearing by refusing to take an oath before testifying, citing an ongoing trial against him on the matter. It was the first time that a witness has made such a submission in the 65 year history of the National Assembly. Under the country’s law, witnesses standing trial can refuse to give testimony before a parliamentary hearing if they believe it will have a negative influence on a concurrent trial. Opposition lawmakers said that Won defamed people by not taking the oath. “Won defamed people. It shows that Won lied so many times before,” said Rep. Park Yong-sun of the main opposition Democratic Party. Former Seoul police head Kim Yong-pan also refused to take an oath before testifying at the hearing. He denied allegations that he ordered the scope of a police investigation into the scandal be reduced and whitewashing its results. “Due to this incident, a criminal trial is proceeding at the same time as a parliamentary investigation," Kim said at the beginning of the hearing after refusing to take the oath. “If the truth of my testimony is distorted or misinterpreted in the process of being disclosed through the press, this could affect (my) trial.” Eventually, Kim did selectively answer questions from lawmakers, denying all allegations against him. shosta@koreatimes.co.kr,