South Korean agent found dead
July 19, 2015
Police said a note left by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) agent, identified only by his surname Lim, contained a denial of spying on civilians or politicians. His body was found in his car on a mountain road south of Seoul.
The NIS earned a notorious reputation before South Korea embraced democracy in the 1980s of meddling in elections.
Last week, South Korea's supreme court ordered a review of the conviction of former spy chief Won Sei-Hoon on charges related to an NIS smear campaign against an opposition presidential candidate in 2012.
Ruling party legislator, Lee Chul-Woo, who heads South Korea's parliamentary intelligence committee, said agent Lim had purchased and run the hacking program.
It installs spyware and allows users to track smart phones and computers.
Last Tuesday, the intelligence service told lawmakers it had purchased the program from Italian company, Hacking Team.
Apology for over-zealousness
The note attributed to Lim and released by police said the NIS had not spied on South Koreans and apologized to senior agency officials for over-zealousness that had created "today's situation."
"There was no monitoring of people at home," the note said. " I deleted information that created misunderstandings about our counter-terrorism and covert operations on North Korea."
ipj/jlw (AFP, AP)