National Security Advisor Wi Sung-rak. Yonhap News. 

At a briefing on October 17th, National Security Advisor Wi Sung-rak announced that approximately 60 Korean nationals detained in Cambodia were scheduled to be repatriated to Incheon International Airport via chartered flight early on October 18th, and that consultations with the Cambodian government were progressing smoothly. He also stated that most of those to be repatriated were suspects for whom arrest warrants had been issued.

He further disclosed that a joint government response team was conducting on-site inspections and coordinating with relevant agencies, and that escort personnel, including police officers, would depart from Incheon to ensure a safe escort. He even revealed that National Intelligence Service (NIS) staff would be increased and dispatched to Cambodia.

It appears that the National Security Advisor, a high-ranking official, divulged details of covert negotiations between the NIS and the Cambodian government regarding the escort of international crime suspects, without any embargo.

Earlier, on October 16th, Wi Sung-rak had boasted about going to search the "Crown Prince Complex" and "Toy Complex" in Cambodia, areas where criminals are located. This led to reports stating that criminals were escaping across borders upon hearing that the police were coming, putting Thailand and Myanmar, where the Triangle region is located, on high alert.

Who would publicly announce plans to crack down on criminals in advance, thereby facilitating their escape? This is an utterly pathetic act by someone who clearly lacks even the basic understanding of arrest investigations or inter-governmental intelligence cooperation. Did they really believe that suspects who had reportedly ingested drugs would willingly board a plane and return if arrest warrants were issued for their escort?

One cannot help but question whether these desperate suspects will readily comply with the police's demands for apprehension, and whether the safety of the NIS personnel engaging in negotiations under threat is even a consideration.

Typically, repatriations conducted through such inter-governmental intelligence cooperation require an embargo until the operational team has safely landed at the airport, to maintain security between both countries. However, Wi Sung-rak went as far as to reveal the names and positions of those dispatched.

More important than promoting this as a government achievement is ensuring that not a single prediction goes awry in matters concerning the lives and safety of our citizens. To achieve this, maintaining security until successful results are achieved is absolutely essential.

Cambodia is a communist country and maintains diplomatic relations with North Korea. While the identities of our intelligence agents are top-secret, they have even disclosed the augmentation of NIS staff internationally.

This incident bears a strong resemblance to the controversy surrounding former NIS Director Kim Man-bok in 2007, who excessively exposed himself.

At that time, the NIS was conducting behind-the-scenes negotiations for the release of Koreans kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Ultimately, the Korean nationals were released, and the hostage crisis was resolved.

However, during this process, not only was former NIS Director Kim Man-bok excessively exposed in the media, but the details of the intelligence operations were also openly disclosed. He even distributed a press release boasting that the release negotiations had begun under his leadership, causing public outcry. The political sphere universally criticized him for not only ostentatiously revealing his identity but also for publicly disclosing the details of covert negotiations, deeming it highly inappropriate.

Wi Sung-rak's actions are not much different. It is disheartening to think that someone incapable of maintaining security is in charge of South Korea's national security, and whether they can protect the nation and its people.

Meanwhile, an anonymous whistleblower, who previously served as an NIS agent dispatched to Cambodia, expressed self-disappointment as a former agent, viewing this repatriation operation as a failure due to a lack of intelligence cooperation and seeing the NIS, stripped of its capabilities, being used as mere pawns for the police, even in Yongsan.

December 3, 2024 There are observations that this incident began when the Democratic Party, which misrepresented the imposition of martial law as a rebellion, abused its power even before the change of government, and in the absence of the Commander-in-Chief's chain of command, someone mobilized the police (Police Commissioner General Woo Jong-soo) to commit the atrocity of arresting the President. 

Furthermore, it has been analyzed that the Democratic Party, solely focused on seizing power, granted unchecked authority to the police. This neglect of public livelihood has led promising young people to engage in international crimes such as voice phishing in Cambodia.

Their insistence on handing over to them the documents, which obstructed Han Duck-soo and Choi Sang-mok's departure for tariff negotiations with the United States, has led to the nation's foundation being shaken by tariff rates more than four times higher. It is argued that the high youth unemployment rate, fueled by the aggressive actions of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), has forced young people to be driven to Cambodia, a country with a worse standard of living than ours, just to make a living. This is interpreted as the fault of the Democratic Party, which was entirely focused on seizing power.

It is argued that the Democratic Party, by inciting the impeachment of the president and rendering the nation unable to exercise its command authority, has led our precious future youth into such criminal dens, creating them as both victims and perpetrators.

The Lee Jae-myung administration, cornered by the Kim Hyun-ji risk, is facing criticism for its actions. As a government that prioritizes criminals, it is argued that it was wrong to unconditionally bring back criminals for whom arrest warrants had been issued, who are suspects, when it would have been more appropriate to accept and transfer them based on the results of local investigations. The evidence is in Cambodia, and the key issue is how to proceed with judicial processing.

It is ironic that the National Police Agency (International Crime Investigation Division, International Affairs Bureau), which is supposed to be the primary authority in cooperation with Interpol for the escort of Cambodian crime suspects, has attempted to achieve results through intelligence cooperation with Cambodia by mobilizing the NIS, an organization that the Democratic Party has so vehemently downgraded as a branch of North Korea's United Front Department or South Korea's United Front Department.

As can be seen from this incident, there are constructive suggestions that the NIS, an organization that operates in the shadows and aims for the light, should have its investigative powers restored for the security of the nation and its people.

It is important to remember that the NIS is an organization for the nation and its people, not for loyalty to the regime. If the current president has the will, the NIS can be directed to perform its original duties without wavering. If there is the courage to dismiss politically oriented individuals who are attached to the regime, the NIS will fulfill its original mission.

Due to changes in government, NIS intelligence officers have also been affected by the absence of command authority due to the president's impeachment and personnel changes after the new administration took office, rendering the existing intelligence network inoperable. This may have led to a situation where the immediate rescue operations could not be carried out, forcing the rebuilding of intelligence cooperation networks within the host country, a bitter interpretation that is also being raised.

An former NIS agent expressed regret, stating that seeing the current administration, which is suspected of pro-China ties, stand by and do nothing while the number of Korean citizens going missing or dying in Cambodia has increased since the current government took office, made him want to fly there immediately and use the intelligence networks he had previously utilized to rescue our citizens, but he was unable to do so.

The NIS only engages in intelligence cooperation and does not have investigative powers. From the perspective of the host country, they are like legal spies whose identities have been revealed. Therefore, it is astonishing that someone with no grasp of intelligence security, who is leading national security, would openly speak of augmenting NIS staff at the National Security Office in Yongsan, as if telling North Korea to send its NIS personnel and obtain intelligence.

He added a plea for them to understand the importance of national security, recognize that the people come before the regime, and govern for the people.

Lee Hyo-joo, Editorial Writer 

* Lee Hyo-joo is a former intelligence agency official and currently an editorial writer for this publication.  

  To prevent confusion among readers, Lee Hyo-joo is a pen name.