[Editorial] End to NLL dispute

In a new twist to the controversy over the 2007 inter-Korea summit transcript, the National Assembly has passed a bipartisan bill to request the perusal and disclosure of the document’s original version kept at the National Archives of Korea.

Under the law on the management of presidential records, access to the document requires approval by at least two-thirds of the 300-member National Assembly. In a Tuesday vote, 257 lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties supported the proposal.

With the passage of the bill, the Assembly can now ask the National Archives of Korea to provide all the summit-related materials in its custody. The institution’s head should comply with the request within 10 days.

The legislators’ move is intended to verify the allegations that President Roh Moo-hyun tried during the summit to scrap the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border in the West Sea.

Last week, the National Intelligence Service unexpectedly made public its version of the summit minutes, hoping that the disclosure would establish the truth and put an end to the controversy.

But the spy agency’s unilateral move simply escalated the dispute as the rival parties interpreted the document to their own advantage.

The NIS transcript showed that, contrary to ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers’ claims, Roh did not explicitly say that Seoul would give up the NLL.

But he did propose a plan that would effectively nullify the maritime border. In addition, he made many remarks detrimental to national interests.

The main opposition Democratic Party challenged the authenticity of the NIS document and called for the disclosure of the original version at the National Archives of Korea.

Despite the passage of the disclosure bill, it is still unclear whether the materials in the NAK custody will be made public. The current law allows legislators to peruse the records at the NAK but prohibits them from leaking any confidential information they have learned.

Anyone who violates this prohibition is subject to imprisonment for up to three years or suspension of qualification for up to seven.

If legislators are unable to disclose the NAK version of the summit transcript and other related materials, controversy is highly likely to continue.

In fact, even if they manage to disclose all the NAK documents, disputes will still rage unless they agree to a common interpretation of them.

Now legislators of the rival parties need to put an end to the futile NLL dispute. Whether or not President Roh tried to scrap the NLL is not much of an issue anymore. People now have their own assessment of the late president’s remarks during the summit.

What matters now is whether lawmakers see the NLL for what it is, and are ready to commit themselves to defending it. In this regard, they are strongly urged to transcend partisan interests and jointly declare their resolve not to engage in any act that would jeopardize the maritime border.