The People Power Party on Friday called for a forced investigation after National Assembly CCTV footage showing the movements of former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok during the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration was released through the YouTube channel of pro-government broadcaster Kim Eou-joon. Former Prime Minister Kim and former Democratic Party of Korea leader Jung Chung-rae attend the party's standing committee meeting at the Democratic Party's North Jeolla Province chapter office on Friday. [Yonhap]
The People Power Party on Friday called for a forced investigation after National Assembly CCTV footage showing the movements of former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok during the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration was released through the YouTube channel of pro-government broadcaster Kim Eou-joon. Former Prime Minister Kim and former Democratic Party of Korea leader Jung Chung-rae attend the party's standing committee meeting at the Democratic Party's North Jeolla Province chapter office on Friday. [Yonhap]

The People Power Party on Sunday called for a forced investigation after National Assembly CCTV footage showing the whereabouts of former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok during the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration was released through the YouTube channel of pro-government broadcaster Kim Eou-joon.

PPP chief spokesperson Choi Bo-yun, in a statement Sunday, called the leak "an unprecedented incident that shakes to the core both the security framework of the Republic of Korea's legislature and the norms of political conduct," describing the release of footage capturing Kim's movements during the martial law repeal vote through Kim Eou-joon's YouTube channel as a major scandal.

Choi said that if the footage was leaked without the former prime minister's consent, as Kim claims, it would constitute "a fatal collapse of national security that threatens the integrity of the National Assembly, a constitutional institution." She said the Assembly speaker and the National Assembly Secretariat should immediately file complaints against those responsible, and that investigators should launch a full forced investigation — including search and seizure operations targeting the Assembly's computer servers and those connected to the YouTube channel.

National Assembly CCTV footage is strictly controlled under the Personal Information Protection Act and internal regulations.

The PPP said that if the footage reached Kim Eou-joon's side without the former prime minister's consent or a court warrant, it would mean either that the Assembly's servers had been hacked or that an insider had stolen classified official information.

Choi also said that if the footage was instead planned and delivered with Kim Min-seok's tacit approval or prior coordination, "it would be the worst kind of political fraud and a cheap self-staged stunt designed to deceive the public." She said Kim had appeared on the broadcast feigning shock, saying "This could only have been obtained from inside the Assembly" — a performance, Choi said, of someone seeing the footage for the first time.

Choi said that if Kim had secretly obtained the footage by violating the Assembly's security regulations to cover up the "fatal wound" of his absence from the repeal vote, while playing the victim in front of cameras, "he would have trampled on the national system out of blind ambition for party leadership." She said Kim "will not be able to escape severe legal consequences and utter political ruin."

Choi said the National Assembly "is not Kim Eou-joon's private playground — it is one of the nation's highest-security facilities," adding that the matter cannot simply be brushed aside with Kim's remark that the footage was "hard to obtain."

She urged investigators to fully expose whether the leak was unlawful, saying it was necessary to restore trust in the legislature and the national security framework. She also called on Kim Min-seok to immediately consent to an investigation and voluntarily submit his mobile phone and call records to authorities if he truly wants to prove his innocence, rather than offering "feeble excuses."

The controversy began Wednesday, when "Gyeomsoneumhimdeulda Newsfactory," a program hosted by Kim Eou-joon, released footage showing the former prime minister running in and around the National Assembly building at the time of the vote to lift the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration. Kim had been under attack from the pro-Jung Chung-rae faction within the Democratic Party of Korea over his absence from that vote.

Since then, speculation has swirled in political circles over how and why footage held by the National Assembly Secretariat — subject to extreme restrictions on disclosure except in connection with insurrection-related investigations and trials — ended up with Kim Eou-joon's team.


shindw@heraldcorp.com