hankyoreh

By Kim Nam-il, staff reporter

Survey results showed a large segment of the public sees the National Intelligence Service’s (NIS) actions during the past presidential election as “illegal” and “scandalous.” Many also said the situation called for a parliamentary investigation and a statement from President Park Geun-hye.

On the parliamentary investigation issue, where ruling and opposition party lawmakers are currently at loggerheads, eight out of ten survey respondents said one was necessary, while more than 65% said Park had to state her position on the improper actions by the NIS, a state organization.

The survey was conducted on June 23 by the Korea Society Opinion Institute, a polling organization, after being commissioned by the Hankyoreh.

When asked which position they agreed with on the NIS activity revealed by prosecutors, 58.3% of respondents said it was a “scandal where a state organization interfered illegally in an election.” This included 40.2% of supporters of the ruling Saenuri Party (NFP) and 43.8% of respondents in the Daegu/North Gyeongsang Province area, which leans heavily toward the Saenuri Party.

Another 27.4% said they agreed with the Saenuri’s characterization of the incident as a “human rights violation in which the opposition illegally imprisoned a female NIS employee.”

78.4% agreed that a parliamentary investigation was necessary, more than four times the 19% who said it was not needed. Large numbers of Saenuri supporters (62.3%) and Daegu/North Gyeongsang Province respondents (72.4%) agreed on the need, suggesting a widespread consensus on the need to get to the bottom of the issue, regardless of political affiliation.

When asked how Park should respond to the NIS case, 65.6% agreed “as President, Park should respond to improper actions by a state organization,” while 33.8% agreed “she does not need to state her position because [the incident] happened under the previous administration.”

More than half of respondents - 57.1% - said the full content of former President Roh Moo-hyun’s statements on the Northern Limit Line (NLL) at a 2007 inter-Korean summit should be disclosed to quiet the controversy over them. Another 36.7% said they should not be revealed “because it may place constraints on future summits between heads of state.”

Among respondents who support the Democratic Party, 52.9% supported disclosure of Roh’s statements. Analysts said they likely hoped to avoid even more controversy over the NLL, which has already continued since the presidential election last December.

Pease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]