The rivaling parties on Friday set out to search again for the missing 2007 inter-Korean summit transcript at the National Archives of Korea amid wild speculations over what happened to the confidential records.
Two lawmakers each from the ruling Saenuri Party and the Democratic Party were chosen for the search over the weekend, to be accompanied by relevant experts.
All 10 members of the viewing team will be making the final confirmation on Monday of the search for the transcript containing remarks made by former President Roh Moo-hyun regarding the de facto West Sea border.
Leaderships of both parties braced for the potentially explosive outcome if the records are found to be permanently lost, as news reports poured out over the mysterious whereabouts of the transcript.
“A truly absurd thing happened where the transcript is missing, and if it is confirmed to be true, this would be a grave crisis where the historical documents have evaporated,” said Saenuri floor leader Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan.
“If the parties conclude that there is no transcript by the final deadline on July 22, we will be digging into the exact account of the incident and who is responsible for the case.”
Rep. Hwang Jin-ha, who is among the Saenuri Party’s search members, pointed the blame at the DP by saying, “Those who produced and kept the document are members belonging or related to the DP.”
He added that the DP should stop making allegations that the former Lee Myung-bak administration, which was handed the presidential records from the Roh government, may be responsible for the misplacement, and cooperate in looking for the records.
The DP toned down their earlier accusations against the Lee government and instead tried to shift the focus back to the “ungrounded accusations” against Roh.
“It was already absurd that (the contents) of the inter-Korean summit talks were ruthlessly leaked and fabricated, and for an intelligence organization to disclose a copy (of the confidential records),” said DP leader Rep. Kim Han-gil.
The controversy over Roh’s Northern Limit Line remarks escalated upon the National Intelligence Service’s disclosure of its copy of the summit transcript last month.
The Saenuri Party has been claiming that Roh indicated during his talks with then-North Korea leader Kim Jong-il a willingness to disregard the NLL that has been repeatedly violated by North Korea. The DP and Roh aides have strongly denied the claim. The clash led to Roh’s former right-hand man Rep. Moon Jae-in demanding a full viewing of the original transcript kept at the National Archives, to which the Saenuri Party agreed.
With the unexpected turn of events, Moon was also been seen stuck in a fix as the controversy spilled over to the maintenance system of the presidential archives by past governments.
Meanwhile, news reports quoted various lawmakers saying that they had heard National Archives President Park Kyung-kook tell the National Assembly that the transcript in question was not included in the list of documents delivered to them upon approval by Roh.
Observers said Park’s comments may be a prelude to a wider debate by insinuating that the transcript was not delivered to the archives in the first place.
Park also reportedly denied the possibility that the difficulty in the search was due to the different data management systems used by Cheong Wa Dae and the National Archives.
By Lee Joo-hee
(
jhl@heraldcorp.com)
