Won Se-hoon to be probed by prosecutors for 3rd time

Prosecutors have allocated the case of the National Intelligence Service’s alleged hacking of Korean civilians to the Public Security Department 2 at Seoul Central District Public Prosecutors’ Office, and started investigation in earnest.

After reviewing of a legal compliant submitted by the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, it has allocated the case to the Public Security Department 2 by considering that it is related to national security work conducted by the state intelligence agency. The department conducted the investigation of suspected wiretapping, for which complaint was filed by the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy in 2002, and probe of ‘National Security Agency’s X file’ in 2005. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn served as head of Public Security Department 2 in 2002, and the second assistant prosecutor general at the SCDPPO that oversees Public Security Department in 2005.

Prosecutors plan to start gathering basic materials on the possibility of the NIS’ hacking of civilians, apart from the probe that is being conducted by the parliamentary Intelligence Committee and others. Regarding the suspicion that NIS requested an Italian security company’s "hacking team" to hack IP addresses that used SK Telecom’s mobile telecom lines, prosecutors also plan to secure information on subscribers to the lines in question in advance. Public Security Department 2 will also receive manpower support from the high-tech crime investigation department at SCDPPO or the digital forensic center at the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office, which are in charge of IT crimes, depending on situation of the investigation.

It is the third time since the Park Geun-hye administration’s inauguration that the prosecution conducts a probe into NIS. In 2013, former NIS chief Won Se-hoon (64, in custody) was indicted due to "online comments posted by NIS staff," while last year NIS agents were investigated due to alleged fabrication of evidence in a case involving a Seoul Metropolitan government official who was suspected of having served as a North Korean spy. Won has been charged again this time on the ground that he was the NIS chief in 2012 when the spy agency purchased the hacking program. After the latest case erupted, Won reportedly said, “I know nothing about purchase of the hacking program.”

Meanwhile, Yongin Dongbu Policy Station in Gyeonggi Province is investigating the list of telephone calls that the late NIS agent Lim (45) had on July 18, the day he committed suicide. “There is no change to the fact that Lim’s death was a case of simple suicide, but the data is meant to secure additional information on whether Lim told his acquaintances why he wished to commit suicide.”