In South Korea, the dismantling of the network of North Korean intelligence services has multiplied since the beginning of 2023. Many activists and trade unionists are in the sights of the authorities for having collaborated with spies from Pyongyang. These crackdowns have caused a lot of ink to flow in South Korea and divided the political class because while some consider these investigations legitimate, others accuse the authorities of seeking to muzzle the opposition.
Many spy rings across the country have reportedly been dismantled. Arrest warrants have been issued for four members of a group in favor of the unification of Korea. They are accused of meeting with North Korean agents in Cambodia and Vietnam in 2016 before returning to South Korea, organizing rallies against the US military presence and promoting far-left ideas. Another activist was arrested for similar encounters in Hanoi and Beijing.
In most cases, we are not talking about sensitive information transmitted to Pyongyang but about political agitation supposedly guided by North Korea. Among the personalities concerned by the numerous investigations are opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and several members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the country’s second-largest, clearly left-leaning workers’ organization.
Silence the opposition
This creates quite strong reactions in South Korea given the profile of the suspects. The search of union premises on January 18 The latter was seen by critics of conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol as an act aimed at muzzling the opposition.
It must be said that the use of the very old national security law introduced even before the Korean War brings back memories of the authoritarian period. Under the military dictatorship, heads of state used this text, which prohibits any expression of sympathy or support for North Korea to silence the critics. Other conservative presidents have subsequently made use of this anti-communist rhetoric.
Involvement of intelligence services
And what worries the opposition and the unions is the pronounced involvement in the searches of the intelligence services, whose director is appointed by the president. Historically accused of being the armed wing of the government in political repression, they must transfer investigative power next year on North Korean espionage to the national police.
How are the authorities defending themselves against these serious accusations of denial of democracy? According to them, they are doing the work that was not done during the previous five-year term. Moon Jae-in, the Democratic President, was above all seeking to preserve inter-Korean relations. While an average of four cases of espionage were revealed each year, under his mandate, the figure dropped to three in three years.
According to the Conservatives, these arrests are legitimate. Proof of the troubled role of the unions according to them, the participation in demonstrations against the American military presence, historic fight of the left but far from the questions of labor law.
It is therefore possible now that the right seeks to reverse the reform of the intelligence services to deal with a security threat that it considers to be increasingly pronounced. But for that, it will probably be necessary to convince the Democratic opposition, the majority in Parliament, which seems far from won.