국회는 정권유지수단으로 활용되고 있는 국정원 개혁에 나서라  

국내정보수집 진상규명하고, 직무범위 위반 처벌규정 마련해야 

언론보도에 따르면 박영수 특별검사팀이 국가정보원 정보관(IO)들이 ‘문화계 블랙리스트’ 작성·활용 과정에 개입한 단서를 포착해 수사 중인 것으로 알려졌다. 또한 국정원 직원이 지난 2015년 삼성물산과 제일모직의 합병 문제와 관련해 국민연금의 내부 동향을 파악해 청와대에 보고한 단서도 확보해 수사 중인 것으로 알려졌다. 이런 정보를 수집하는 것은 국가정보원법 제3조 직무범위를 벗어난 명백한 위법행위이다. 국회는 이러한 위법행위를 묵인해서는 안 된다. 국정원이 국내정보를 수집 활용한 것에 대한 진상을 낱낱이 밝히고, 직무범위를 벗어날 경우에는 담당자를 비롯해 상관들까지 엄벌에 처하는 규정을 서둘러 마련해야 한다.

2012년 대선개입 사건 이후 국정원은 정보관(IO)의 국회, 정당, 언론사 상시출입을 금지하고, 관련 조직을 폐지하는 조치를 취했지만 국정농단 사태와 고 김영한 전 청와대 민정수석의 업무일지를 통해서 국정원이 여전히 국내정치에 광범위하게 개입한 사실이 확인되고 있다. 국정원은 양승태 대법원장 등 사법부 인사들에 대한 사찰 문건을 작성해 청와대에 보고한 것으로 드러났다. 또한 김기춘 전 비서실장의 지시에 따라 경찰과 팀을 짜서, 종교계와 언론, 민간인을 사찰했을 뿐만 아니라 장·차관, 공공기관장 등 고위공직자들을 사찰한 정황도 확인됐다. 이처럼 국정원이 고위공직자, 종교계, 민간인 등에 대한 정보를 광범위하게 수집하는 것은 국가정보원법 제3조 직무범위를 벗어난 것이다. 문제는 직무범위를 벗어난 위법행위에 대해서 처벌할 수 있는 규정이 없다는 것이다. 이렇다 보니 국정원은 정권에 비판적인 세력을 사찰하여 통제하고, 정권을 유지하는 수단으로 활용되고 있다. 
  
국정원이 국내정치에 개입하고 인권침해 행위를 벌여온 것은 어제 오늘의 일이 아니다. 만약 이러한 적폐를 개혁하지 않는다면 2012년 국정원 대선 개입 사건은 재현 될 수밖에 없으며, 국정원이 차기 정권에도 정권을 유지하는 수단으로 활용될 수밖에 없다. 국회는 더 이상 이를 방치해서는 안 된다. 

Joint Statement of Nongovernmental Organizations in Korea Regarding President Park Geun-hye’s Planned Visit to the United States:

Overturn the Visit Plan and Focus Instead on Transforming the Policy on North Korea

>>> To see the statement in Korean
 

President Park Geun-hye of South Korea has recently announced that she plans to pay a visit to the United States from June 14 to 19. The announcement has raised serious concerns in the Korean civil society, particularly over the appropriateness of the visit schedule and also the policy issues likely to be discussed by the leaders of the two countries.
 
First and foremost, it would be extremely inappropriate of President Park to proceed with her visit schedule when the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) threatens to turn into a national crisis in Korea. Her plan also coincides with the 15th anniversary of the historic Joint North-South Korean Statement of June 15, 2001, which has marked a turning point in the relations on the Korean Peninsula. If President Park pushes her visit plan in the face of the growing pressure, both at home and abroad, to use the anniversary as an occasion for normalizing the sour relations between the two Koreas, she will serve no purpose other than confirming her commitment to sanctioning North Korea instead of improving relations with it.
 
President Park and Washington therefore ought to revisit and overturn their plan of another summitry. President Park ought instead to focus all her energy on solving the MERS crisis in Korea and improving relations with the North.
 
We should also point out the growing public indignation over the recent turns in the Korea-US relations. During the visit by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan in April, Washington seemingly endorsed Japan’s continued attempt to distort history and movement toward the extreme right, demanding Korea and other countries victimized by Japan’s colonialism to forget the past and move forward into the future. High-ranking US officials, such as State Secretary John Kerry, also provoked Koreans with their mentions of the need to station the THAAD system in Korea, thus raising worries that the Korean Peninsula may yet again turn into a battleground for proxy wars. The United States Army has also recently been found to have conducted a clandestine and extremely dangerous experiment of anthrax, a fatal bioweapon, at the US Air Force Base in Osanwithout even bothering to inform the Korean government. The United States, having served long as a self-appointed guardian of justice and democracy worldwide, has thwarted Koreans’ aspirations toward correcting historical mistakes and envisioning a better future by endorsing Japan’s policy on history when Koreans should be celebrating the 70th anniversary of their national liberation. The US government ought to apologize for this situation and join the efforts worldwide to correct Japan’s historical distortion.
 
Moreover, Washington should abandon its pursuit of stationing a THAAD system in Korea, which may escalate the tension over the Korean Peninsula and the arms race in Northeast Asia to unprecedented heights. As a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention, the US government ought also officially acknowledge its attempt to deliver anthrax into Korea and apologize to the Korean public. In doing so, Washington ought to abandon its program of relocating toxic bacteria overseas and also abandon its biological weapons programs.
 
The United States ought to quit its habit of enforcing strict international norms and law against enemy states, while it also ignores and violates such norms and laws when its own interests are concerned. It is this double standard of Washington that continues to frustrate the international effort to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
 
Finally, we exhort policymakers of South Korea and the United States to shift their policy regarding North Korea from the current position of “strategic patience” to that of active dialogue and negotiation. The Korean Peninsula is the only country in the world that remains divided, despite the single national origin, since the end of World War II seven decades ago. The current division can be overcome only by declaring the end of the war on the peninsula and changing the course of the peninsula toward a more cooperative partnership.
 
The governments of South Korea and the United States ought also to launch negotiations for converting the ceasefire agreement between the two Koreas into a peace treaty, with the participation of not only the two Koreas, but also of other parties to the Korean War, including China. Meaningful efforts need to be made to change the policy of confrontation and antagonism toward North Korea into a policy of peace and cooperation. That is the only way we can begin to find a solution to the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula.
 
The United States, the major victor of World War II, bears the responsibility to bring the war on the Korean Peninsula to a conclusion and thereby end the enduring legacy of World War II. The Obama administration needs to reflect honestly upon, and find a new approach, to the pain and suffering of separation that has persisted on the Korean Peninsula over the last seven decades.
 
Only when the governments of South Korea and the United States are ready to embrace genuine change, they may begin a new summitry.
 

June 10, 2015

Signed by:
Civil Peace Forum
Daegu Citizens Union for Peaceful Reunification
Daejeon Women's Association for Peace
Goyang Peace Nuri
Korea Alliance For Progressive Movement
Korea Peace Foundation
Korea Young Man's Christian Association
Korean Sharing Movement, Korean Veterans For Peace
Korean Women's Association United
Lawyers for a Democratic Society
Life Peace Solidarity
Minkahyup Human Rights Group
Movement for One Corea
Peace Network
People's Solidarity for Amendment of Unequal US-ROK SOFA
People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy
Pyeongtaek Peace Center
Solidarity for Democracy People's Livelihood, Peaceful Reunification, and the Sovereignty of Korea
Tongilmaji
Women Making Peace
Young Korean Academy