South Korean President Park Geun-hye apologized on Tuesday for the latest scandal to rock the intelligence service where three officials have been charged with conspiracy to fabricate evidence against a man accused of spying for North Korea.
The case is the latest in a long line of controversies marking the National Intelligence Service’s troubled history that have triggered calls for reform.
Park warned the service must mend its ways.
“Regrettably, the National Intelligence Service’s wrongful practices and a system of lax oversight were revealed and caused concern among the public, and I would like to apologize for this,” Park said at a cabinet meeting.
Park’s father, Park Chung-hee, was assassinated in 1979 by the disgruntled head of the agency’s precursor at the peak of a power struggle that involved the late president’s close aides.
The intelligence service has since undergone two name changes and numerous organizational reforms.
South Korea and the North are still technically at war after their 1950-53 civil conflict ended in a mere truce, not a peace treaty.
On Monday, prosecutors announced indictments against two agency officials after charging one in March for their suspected role in fabricating Chinese immigration documents to support the case against an individual accused of being a North Korean spy.
But prosecutors said they found no reason to believe senior agency officials, including its chief, Nam Jae-joon, were involved in the conspiracy and closed its investigation.
The political opposition accused the prosecution of allowing the agency to take care of its own.
Source: Reuters