Uri Party lawmakers who object to the investigation say the case tarnishes the entire generation of ex-student activists and say the probe is politically motivated. At Monday’s audit of the Justice Department, they laid into the NIS. Uri lawmaker Kim Dong-cheol raised suspicion that the NIS is intentionally leaking information about the case to the press. Rep. Lee Jong-kul alleged the investigation was planned for ulterior motives. "The suspects say that the case is a setup by the NIS, and a thorough investigation should determine whether that is true.” Im Jong-in, another Uri lawmaker, protested against Kim's definition of the investigation as a “North Korean spy ring case,” “It’s inappropriate to define the case that way when the suspects just met a few North Koreans,” Im said.

Things are playing out as I suspected with the Uri Party trying to minimalize the damage from this spy scandal by blaming conservatives for framing them. The NIS chief did a great job with his comments, in making it politically difficult for President Roh to put one of his Uri Party stooges into the NIS chief position like he has with other sensitive governmental and national security positions in order to squash the spy scandal.

What is even more incredible is that the liberal party at the center of the party the DLP are making a trip to the North Korean capitol of Pyongyang in the midst of this spy scandal:

The Unification Ministry ignored protests from the National Intelligence Service and the Justice Ministry in permitting members of the Democratic Labor Party, some of whose leaders are under arrest on spying charges, to visit North Korea on Monday, it has emerged. The NIS called the permission “inappropriate” when the ministry sought the agency’s views. A former and current DLP leader are being held in a spy ring case involving former student activists of the so-called 386 generation now close to the centers of power.

Justice Minister Kim Sung-ho told a parliamentary audit Monday his ministry advised the Unification Ministry not to give the green light to some applicants who had criminal records for violating the National Security Law and remain under police watch. Those who violated the National Security Law include DLP chairman Moon Sung-hyun and lawmaker Roh Hoe-chan.

A Unification Ministry official said the ministry gave the go-ahead nonetheless since it considered the visit an exchange between North and South Korean political parties and expects the DLP to act responsibly as a party registered in the National Assembly. An NIS source said it was “incomprehensible” that the ministry gave permission when former and incumbent party leaders are under arrest and the investigation continues.

This is absolutely incredible that officials in the ruling government are allowing DLP members to go to North Korea in the midst of this spy scandal investigation. What are they doing up there, getting their stories straight from their Nork handlers for when they are questioned by the NIS when they get back?

Courtesy of One Free Korea, DLP is saying they are going to North Korea to ask Kim Jong-il if he had anything to do with the spy scandal within their own party! I'm not making this stuff up:

The Democratic Labor said, “As for the suspicions of spying, we will speak directly to the North to verify or disprove them.” The Democratic Labor Party will ask about the ”386 spy scandal” when its leaders visit North Korea between October 30th and November 4th.

The DLP said, “Kim Jong Il already promised not to spy on us at the 2000 meeting with Kim Dae Jung. So they will check this and find out what the real story about this spy scandal is.”

I wonder if Kim Jong-il is going to be able to keep a straight face when these people ask him if he has been using them for spies? I agree with One Free Korea, I smell Chewbacca Defense all over this one.

The best way I can describe this, is if high ranking members of a political party in the US Congress were suspected of spying for let's say Iran and then that party is allowed to send members to Iran to consult with the mullahs over there and ask them if they have been using their political party as spies, all with the approval of the President. This all sounds absurd right? Well, this is exactly what is going on in South Korea right now.

The latest that is really making things interesting is that the spy ring leader was once a USFK servicemember at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul:

The Seoul Central District Public Prosecutors Office and the National Intelligence Service said Mr. Jang had joined the U.S. military in 1989 when he was a permanent resident of the United States and served at Yongsan Garrison, the headquarters base of U.S. Forces Korea, for four years. He obtained U.S. citizenship in 1993. They accused him of having paid his first visit to North Korea in 1989, just before joining the U.S. Army. He allegedly traveled there again in 1993, joining the North Korean Workers Party that year.

Mr. Jang is suspected of having operated as an undercover agent for Pyongyang since then, the prosecution and intelligence service sources said. In 1997, he was said to have organized a group of former student activists targeted at gathering information from members of political parties and civic groups.

It will be interesting to see what legal action the US government would be able to take against this guy in regards to he had to have lied about his North Korean ties in order to enlist into the Army not to mention whatever espionage activity he may have been part of at Yongsan. If President Roh tries to stop the investigation it will interesting to see if the US pursues it instead. I expect President Roh to install one of his lackeys in the NIS to try stop this investigation becuase the more the NIS is digging into this, the more and more interesting this is becoming. If he is able to do this then that would mean it wouldn't be until a year later if the conservatives win the Presidential election that the NIS could continue the investigation, which would give the spies a whole year to cover their tracks.

If you tthink Mark Foley or John Kerry is a political scandal, I'll tell you what, they have nothing on South Korean political scandals.