The Korean consul-general in Shenyang, China, failed to clarify the authenticity of Chinese immigration records used as evidence in a pro-North Korea espionage case.
Cho Baek-sang testified to a parliamentary committee amid growing suspicions that intelligence and prosecution officials may have falsified documents including one regarding the suspect’s visit to North Korea via a northeastern Chinese province.
The defendant, a former Seoul City employee, was in August 2013 cleared of charges of delivering lists of North Korean defectors to Pyongyang.
The prosecution appealed and submitted three documents on his trip. The Chinese Embassy in Seoul said that these were fabricated and the opposition Democratic Party called for an independent council investigation into the prosecution and National Intelligence Service.
The consul-general confirmed that one of the three documents was issued by the Chinese authorities but was not sure of the sources of the others, which were obtained by Consul Lee In-cheol from the NIS.
Asked by a lawmaker whether the two documents were officially secured from the Chinese government, he said, “No.”
“I was not in a position to verify the authenticity. The concerned consul said it is authentic,” he told the National Assembly’s committee on foreign affairs and unification.
“I notarized them because they met necessary conditions and I could not do otherwise,” he added.
His statement further fanned suspicion that the documents may have been forged.
Seoul authorities argued that the documents were issued by the security officials in the northeastern Chinese city of Helong through diplomatic channels.
The Foreign Ministry turned down the Democratic Party’s request to submit related documents to the committee because the judicial process is underway.
Minister Yun Byung-se told lawmakers that the ministry had already submitted the document to the prosecution.
The suspect, Yoo Woo-seong, a Chinese national, was indicted in February last year on charges of passing over the personal information of more than 200 North Korean defectors to the North.
In November, the prosecution submitted to the appeals court immigration records and other documents showing that Yoo had traveled between North Korea and China for alleged spying activities.
Earlier this week, prosecutors launched a probe into the allegations of document forgery.
By Lee Hyun-jeong (
rene@heraldcorp.com)
