NIS officials, “Documents on personnel affairs were directly ordered by the office of the presidential press secretary, Lee Dong-kwan”

Several accounts of circumstantial evidence that Lee Dong-kwan, the special advisor to the president on international cooperation and a strong candidate for the next chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, intervened unjustly in the management of public broadcasting networks when he served as the senior secretary for public relations in the Lee Myung-bak government were uncovered in the investigation and trial records on the illegal investigations by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) conducted in 2017-2018. Lee argued that he had “never requested anything, never received or seen any reports” in response to the allegation that he interfered in the management of KBS. But multiple statements from NIS employees that contradict his argument emerged in the investigation.

According to the witness statements attached to the investigation records on the illegal NIS investigations of 2017-2018, which the Kyunghyang Shinmun obtained on June 26, A, who worked in the public opinion team in the NIS strategy office for national interest, explained how he came to prepare the document on KBS. A said, “It was drawn up upon a request from the Cheongwadae Office of the Senior Secretary for Public Relations on May 28, 2018.” He further stated, “The reason Cheongwadae asked for the report was because they wanted to filter out inside figures from KBS who were critical of government policies at the time.” A was one of the officials who signed and approved the NIS document, “Reforms in Human Resources after the Restructuring of KBS” (Jun. 3, 2010).

At the time, KBS was scheduled to undergo organizational restructuring and follow-up personnel transfers after Kim In-kyu, who served as President Lee Myung-bak’s special press advisor, was appointed the new president. In the prosecutor’s investigation, A said, “I think Cheongwadae asked for an analysis report to present the direction for personnel decisions,” and added, “We prepared the document to present the standards for follow-up personnel decisions upon request from Cheongwadae.” B, the intelligence analyst who personally drew up the document said, “The Cheongwadae press secretary office gave instructions to prepare the report for the purpose of identifying inadequate executives, such as those with leftist tendencies.”

The KBS document that the NIS prepared at the time categorized nearly a dozen employees including the producer of In Depth 60 Minutes, a show on current affairs, as “leftist executives” and stated their names and their inclination. In his statement, B said that the “leftist” category was included according to instructions from the Cheongwadae press secretary office. He explained, “People close to the previous president, Chung Yeon-joo, and those who engaged in labor union activities were classified as leftist,” and said, “The instructions from Cheongwadae and the senior NIS officials classified anyone who opposed government policies at the time as leftist.”

The intelligence agency officials believed that the Cheongwadae press secretary office was involved in the process of delivering these “guidelines on personnel decisions” to KBS. A said, “Since it was requested by the Cheongwadae press secretary office, if it was implemented, the Office of the Senior Secretary for Public Relations would have personally delivered the purpose to the president of KBS.” He explained, “At the time, the IO (NIS intelligence agent) in charge of KBS was only in his late forties, and his rank was low, only a grade-4,” and said, “It is unlikely for such a low-ranking official to visit the KBS president and intervene in internal personnel matters. It would only be possible for someone from the Cheongwadae press secretary office.” As for whether the KBS employees labeled leftist were removed, B said, “From what I know some were transferred to other positions.”

In the prosecutor’s investigation records obtained by the Kyunghyang Shinmun, multiple documents were discovered drawn up upon the request from the senior secretary for public relations and from the office of the president’s press secretary from September 2009 to July 2010, when Lee Dong-kwan served as the president’s press secretary, including documents titled “Status and Issues to Consider on the Biased Broadcasting of Radio Shows on Current Affairs” and “Status and Issues to Consider on the Composition of Local Election Planning Teams of Broadcasting Networks.”

The document titled, “Status and Issues to Consider on the Biased Broadcasting of Radio Shows on Current Affairs,” was drawn up on December 24, 2009, after a request from the senior secretary for public relations on December 18. “Status and Issues to Consider on the Composition of Local Election Planning Teams of Broadcasting Networks” was created on January 13, 2010, following a request from the Office of the Senior Secretary for Public Relations on January 7.

The Kyunghyang Shinmun could not confirm whether the office of the presidential press secretary requested the documents be prepared, but the press secretary’s office received dozens of reports on documents from the National Intelligence Service when Lee Dong-kwan was the press secretary. The reports included “Strategy to Restore Normal Operation of MBC,” “Ensuring the Removal of Additional MBC Cast with Leftist Tendencies,” and “Strict Measures to Stop the Spread of Lenience towards Leftist Personalities in Broadcasting.”

It was confirmed through the words of former NIS chief Won Sei-hoon that there was active communication between the intelligence agency and the Cheongwadae Office of the Senior Secretary for Public Relations concerning control over media. In a meeting of NIS directors in February 2011, the former NIS chief said, “As for the editor-in-chief of ## Ilbo (a daily newspaper), I told the Cheongwadae press secretary office that support for his evaluation should end there, but that support continues to flow to the ones next to him.”