Critical Incidents: The ROK - Land of HAN (A Jack Gunn Mystery Thriller Book 1) (7 page)

“So what are you doing now?” I asked.

Lee replied, “I have a desk job doing surveillance and now I’m liaison to your group.”

“What do you make of Kwon having us followed?”

“Maybe they weren’t following us.”

“Come on KY, I know a tail when I see it.”

“Ok, maybe they are watching us,” he replied.

“Why did you bring him to dinner with us?”

“I am sorry about that. He asked me what I was doing tonight. When I told him I was meeting with you, he asked to come along for dinner. He wanted to meet you. I couldn’t say no to him.”   

“KY, please don’t tell Kwon anything about me.”

“Jack, I know that. Don’t worry about it.”

“If the NIS guys are still there when we leave, let’s see who they tail, you or me. We’ll take different cabs home.”

“Good idea, Jack.”

Changing the subject, I asked, “Who has the power to fire the Director?”

Lee smiled and replied, “That is a good question.” Lee took a sip of his drink, while he was carefully thinking how to answer my question. “Normally the Director is nominated by the President. The Army Chief of Staff, along with Chairman of the National Assembly have to approve it. Then it is rubber stamped by a vote of the National Assembly.”

“Yeah, I got that. But who has the power to fire him?”

“I would assume the President, of course, along with the approval of the Army Chief of Staff and Chairman of the National Assembly.”

“That means the normal legal process wasn’t followed,” I said.

“That’s correct. Something is wrong. As you know when the NIS was the ANSP (Agency for National Security Planning) it was very corrupt.”

“Yeah, I know that.”

The NIS is the most powerful government organization in South Korea. It has a long history of corruption, and it is dreaded by most of the Korean people.

Originally, there was the KCIA (Korean Central Intelligence Agency) which was started in 1961. The KCIA was started by the Army to help protect the country. It became very powerful and controlled other government agencies in Korea. Because communist North Korea is the greatest threat to the south, the KCIA grew in power and could do no wrong. The KCIA name was changed to the ANSP, and then to the NIS.

I studied Korean History when in the Army, and working for the DOD. The history of the KCIA and ANSP is very complicated and corrupt. I thought back, to what I had learned.

HISTORY OF THE KCIA

*****

The Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) was established by the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction in 1961, after an attempted military coup. Its mandate was to supervise and direct all intelligence activities for the Korean Government. It was able to conduct criminal investigations on all government agencies, including the military. The KCIA mission was about the same as the United States CIA and FBI combined. 

The first Director of the KCIA was Kim Chong-pil. The Army Counterintelligence Corps were recruited to start the KCIA. In the beginning there were 3,000 employees. Currently there are more than 80,000. It slowly became the most powerful agency in the government by having control over any information about national security. The KCIA wove a web of agents throughout the Korean Government, which allowed them to spy on law makers and politicians.  

The KCIA gained unlimited power, which enabled them to investigate and detain any person accused of anti-state actions. This created a lot of political tension and fear in Korea.

In 1962, Chung-hee Park became President. Park seized power through a military coup in 1961; which overthrew the Second Republic of South Korea. Park ruled with the support of the military. He was the head of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction and then he was elected President of the Third Republic in 1963. In 1972, Park declared martial law and changed the constitution making it a very restrictive document.

Park somehow managed to survive many assassination attempts; including two that were committed by North Korea. Under his direction the government used the KCIA and the military to enforce martial law when political unrest occurred. Between 1963 and 1979, martial law was declared nine times. Park’s regime strengthened its hold on the country. Any type of activity considered being antigovernment, or anti-Park, including speeches and printed articles, were deemed a criminal act. Arrests of those accused of anti-state activities became very common.      

From here things only became worse. There were more widespread public demonstrations by working people. There were mass resignations of elected Assembly members to protest Park’s strict control. Terrible riots broke out in the cities of Masan, Changwon, and Pusan, and martial law was declared. Hundreds of demonstrators were killed by Korean Army Forces during these riots.

Park’s rule came to an end in 1979 when he was assassinated at the Blue House. This shocked the entire country because Park had been in power for 18 years. Because of the assassination, martial law was declared again to deal with the crisis.

The head of the Korea Defense Security Command, Major General Chun, took control of the country. He also took control of the KCIA and purged it putting in his own people to extend his power.

After all most a year under martial law, political unrest popped up again, and protesters took to the streets in 1980. General Chun banded all political activities, assemblies, and rallies to stop the unrest. Thousands of people were arrested as the government troops took control of the cities.

To help stop the riots and tension, the KCIA was renamed the Agency for National Security Planning or ANSP. This gave the impression that the hated KCIA was removed from power. Like the KCIA, the ANSP was a cabinet-level agency and was directly under the President’s control. Its powers were exactly the same as the KCIA. By 1983 the ANSP had gained more control than the KCIA.

Public assemblies were more or less controlled until 1987 by using new laws named, “The Act Concerning Assembly and Demonstration” and “The National Security Act.” The regime’s security forces, which were the Defense Security Command, and the National Combat Police, were used to prohibit mass assemblies. Under the new laws one was required to provide the police advance notice of all demonstrations. Violation of this law could mean a seven year prison sentence.

Non-political or peaceful demonstrations took place without much government interference. However, under President Chun, over five thousand investigations were made and thousands of people were arrested. Security was very tight in certain cities and university campuses. Any citizen was at risk of being questioned and held without due process.

The typical methods to deal with non-approved demonstrations were to surround the crowd using the Combat Police. The Combat Police would encircle the crowd and slowly move in on the group using clubs, water cannons, and tear gas to make mass arrests. Once in jail, questioning by the security services bordered on the line torture.

  Security forces detained those accused of breaking the new laws, but also placed people under house arrest. Many elected officials were put under surveillance.

In 1984 South Korea made a bid for the 1988 Summer Olympics, which they won. Oddly enough, while jobs were plentiful, the common people were still discontented. Up until now the people could only vote for those in the National Assembly. The National Assembly members were the ones who in turn elected the President.

In 1987, just one year before the Olympics, the South Korean people finally won the right to have direct elections for the President and National Assembly members. It was believed that this would quell the unrest. However, in 1988, the year of the Olympics, there were over six thousand demonstrations in Korea. They were called rallies because that sounded better than demonstrations.

In 1999, the ANSP was officially renamed the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The NIS is divided into three groups: International affairs, Domestic affairs, and North Korean affairs. Its official mission is as follows:

“Collection, coordination, and distribution of information on the nation's strategy and security.

Maintenance of documents, materials, and facilities related to the nation's classified information.

Investigation of crimes affecting national security, related to laws such as the Military Secrecy Protection Law, the National Security Law.

Investigation of crimes related to the missions of NIS staff.

Planning and coordination of information and classified materials.”

The election of Roh, Moo-hyun as President in 2003 brought more pressure to reform the NIS. Hoping to reform the NIS, President Roh appointed a former human rights attorney as the NIS Director. The anti-communist bureau of the NIS was eliminated. Most surveillance activities were abandoned and transferred to the Police.

Roh is a very liberal President. He continued the existing Sunshine Policy of reunification with North Korea. The National Assembly tried to impeachment him during his first year as President. He was cleared of any wrong doing. Roh planned to create an administrative capital outside of Seoul, but he was overruled by the Korean Supreme Court who advised that the relocation of the capital was unconstitutional.

No one knows why Roh wanted to move the administrative capital one hundred miles from Seoul. People were not happy about that since Seoul had been the capital of Korea for over a thousand years.

That is the history of the Korean National Intelligence Service. Roh is still the President and has one more year remaining on his five-year term.                                              

*****

PRESENT TIME

“So, what are you thinking, Jack?” Lee asked.

“Oh … I don’t understand why President Roh permitted the NIS to do what they did. They report to him.”

“Yes, that is true. Roh is either a weak man or a clever one. Maybe he listens to the wrong people and doesn’t exert his power. He leaves it to others, who have his ear.”

“Or, is he really behind all of this?” I asked.

“No, I think Roh is a good man trying to do what is right. But he is easily influenced by others whom he trusts. Maybe Kwon and Suk are up to no good. We just have to find out what they are up to and who’s involved in deceiving the President.”

“How are you gonna do that?”

“I do know President Roh fairly well, after being his bodyguard for four years. Maybe, I should just call him.”

“No. Don’t do that because his phone is tapped. Besides, what would you tell him? You have to meet him face to face in private.” I said.

The two women sitting with us were bored, so they poured us another drink and lit me up a smoke. They didn’t understand English very well, and since we were talking fast I am sure our conversation meant nothing to them.

We sat there thinking about the situation. How could we approach the President in private? It was weird that all his personal bodyguards had been removed, along with the Director of the NIS. These actions made me wonder what was going on.

I asked, “KY, what do you think is going on? What does your gut tell you? You’re Korean and know how these guys think, better than I do.”

“There could be a number of things going on,” Lee replied.

“Like what? Let’s make a list and discuss it.”

Mi-young walked into the room. I glanced at my watch and it was 1 am. I poured her a drink and everyone made a toast to friendship.

Lee said, “I’ll think about the list overnight and we can discuss it tomorrow.” I nodded ok.

Mi-young asked, “What list?”

“We were just discussing government business,” I said. Mi-young never said another word about it, because she understood what I meant.

As the girls poured us one more drink, I looked out at the dance floor and tables. There were all kinds of people here. A lot of men come here without a date because this is a hot spot to pick up women. Then I wondered if Stan Wright, or his look-alike, Robert Ellington, had ever been here.

It occurred to me to show the picture I took of Ellington and the Korean man in the hotel lobby to everyone. I pulled it up on the phone, passed it around, and asked, “Has anyone ever seen these men?”

Lee wanted to know who they were, so I told everyone the story about Wright and Ellington.     

Lee said, “Email me a copy of that picture and I’ll see what I can find out.”

After the ladies had seen the picture, Mi-young said, “I saw both men here.” One of the other women sitting with us, agreed with her.

“When did you see them?” I asked.

“Earlier tonight, before you came,” Mi-young advised. “They come here eight o’clock, have drinks, and leave ten.”

“Mi-young, anytime they come here, call me right away.” Then I had another idea. “KY, show them a picture of Kwon.”

He passed around his phone with the picture of Kwon. Again I asked, “Have you ladies seen this man here?”

They carefully studied the picture. Looking at it twice, Mi-young said, “Yes, maybe, not sure.”

“Alright, just remember what he looks like. He is a short little man.”

“Ok, me look for him.”