Ex-NIS chief announces bid to run in April elections

Former National Intelligence Service director Kim Man-bok said Monday that he plans to run in an open primary to appear on the ruling Saenuri Party’s ticket to run in Gijang, Busan, his hometown, on April 13 next year.

His announcement came on the heels of Home Affairs Minister Chong Jong-sup’s press conference Sunday to resign from his post, with heavy indications that he would be running in the parliamentary race.

The two join a host of other former Cabinet and Cheong Wa Dae officials who have stepped down from their seats in the past several weeks to prepare for the elections.

Their resignations are also speeding up talks within the ruling party over their nomination strategy, as factional tensions loom between those loyal to President Park Geun-hye and those outside the mainstream of the party.

Kim’s bid, in particular, raised eyebrows, as he is already in hot waters over his conduct after joining the Saenuri Party via facsimile in August.

In a “letter to the public,” Kim said that while he served as the spy agency chief during the progressive Roh Moo-hyun administration, Kim said he was joining the conservative Saenuri Party for his personal beliefs.

“As I have served in the NIS, I tend to think in the realm of conservativeness. And therefore a lot of the policies of the Saenuri Party are in sync with what I believe,” he said.

He added that if he was to earn the party nomination, he was confident of his win in Busan, as there are already gatherings supporting him as a lawmaker candidate.

Kim’s letter was considered a refusal to leave the party in light of controversy that he had publicly supported an opposition party candidate in the Oct. 28 by-election after he joined the Saenuri Party in August.

The Saenuri Party was discussing whether to expel him. They said they will take due measures after an internal investigation of him is completed.

Kim explained in the letter that he had shown support as a favor and that he had not known his application to join the Saenuri Party had already been accepted.

Kim was put in the media spotlight by saying in an interview with a local newspaper that there was a permanent hotline between the leaders of the two Koreas during the progressive governments.

The NIS moved to file a complaint with the prosecution against its former chief as he appears to have revealed confidential information he obtained during his leadership from 2006-2008.

The NIS believes that Kim broke the law banning former and current NIS employees from revealing state secrets they learned while performing official duties.

The law also bans an NIS employee from publishing a book concerning his or her NIS duties without the permission from the incumbent NIS chief. Kim recently published his memoirs regarding the 2007 inter-Korean summit, but he reportedly had not obtained NIS permission.

From news reports