Two jailed spy chiefs sprung on parole

Social Affairs

Published: 30 May. 2022, 18:11 Updated: 01 Jun. 2022, 13:10

Two jailed spy chiefs sprung on parole

Lee Byung-kee, left, and Nam Jae-joon, center, former heads of the National Intelligence Service, leave the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, on Monday morning after they were released on parole. The spy chiefs were convicted of siphoning off more than 1 billion won ($807,755) of agency funds to the Park Geun-hye Blue House. [YONHAP]

Two former chiefs of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) jailed for siphoning off more than 1 billion won ($807,755) of agency funds to the Park Geun-hye Blue House were released on parole Monday.

Nam Jae-joon and Lee Byung-kee, both of whom led the spy agency during the Park administration, left the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, on Monday morning at around 10 a.m., and were greeted by some 60 supporters who were waiting outside.

Nam and Lee were among nearly 650 people paroled the same day, the first in the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

Asked by reporters how they felt, Nam waved his hands and refused to speak, while Lee replied he would talk some other time.

Nam, 77, director of the NIS from March 2013 to May 2014, was convicted of giving 600 million won worth of “special activity” expenses to the Park Blue House, which were meant to be used by NIS agents for information-gathering and intelligence-related purposes. The money was later found to have been used by Park.

Lee Byung-kee, 76, Nam’s successor and NIS director from July 2014 to February 2015, was convicted of giving 800 million won worth of special activity funds to Park's Blue House.

In July 2021, the Supreme Court found both guilty of bribery. Nam was sentenced to a year and a half, while Lee was sentenced to three years.

In a separate trial, Nam was sentenced to three years and six months from March 2019 for obstructing an investigation by prosecutors in 2013, who were looking into a massive cyber smear campaign led by the NIS to help Park in the 2012 presidential election.

The NIS’s anti-North Korea psychological warfare team was found to have posted messages critical of Park’s main rival candidate, Moon Jae-in, on news websites and social media. Park eventually beat Moon. Moon became president in 2017 after Park was ousted from the Blue House following a corruption scandal.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]