The article was originally published by New Daily and translated by OKN Correspondent.
It was found that the content of the USB that former President Moon Jae-in gave to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during the inter-Korean summit on April 27, 2018, while in office, could not be confirmed in the general records of the 19th president.
Controversy is expected over the whereabouts of the data as former President Moon may have classified the contents of the USB as presidential-designated records or handed it over to Kim Jong-un without leaving any records.
The USB content that Moon gave to Kim Jong-un becomes a mystery.
According to our report on the 4th, Joo-wa Goo, a lawyer from the “Lawyers for Human Rights and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula,” requested the government to disclose information related to the USB on the 7th of last month.
“Former President Moon Jae-in handed over a USB to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un at the summit on April 27, 2018, and the USB contains the New Economic Initiative for the Korean Peninsula. If that is the case, and if the USB contains important information to share with North Korea, it corresponds to the people’s right to know. Thus, it should be disclosed to the public,” Lawyer Goo said in the letter.
Furthermore, Goo said, “the Moon Jae-in administration did not disclose the information to the public, and President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged to investigate this matter last year. Therefore, the government should disclose all data files and videos of the USB.”
On May 30, 2018, the Blue House announced at a chief secretary meeting that former President Moon had said that he had personally handed Kim Jong-un a USB containing a New Economic Initiative for the Korean Peninsula.
In particular, then-spokesperson for the Blue House Eui-gyeom Kim (now an Assemblyman of the Democratic Party) introduced relevant remarks by former President Moon when controversy arose over whether the USB contained any information about South Korea’s power plants. He added that he “confirmed it directly with President Moon.”
“Former President Moon handed over a material (about the power plants) to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. He made a booklet and a presentation video on the new economic plan and gave them to Kim Jong-un. The presentation video contains information about issues related to power plants. The related information was delivered in a USB,” Assemblyman Kim said.
The Presidential Archives, which was selected as the government’s answering agency, responded on the 16th of last month through the “Notice of Absence Other than Request for Information Disclosure.”
“We notify you of the absence of the records related to the New Economic Initiative for the Korean Peninsula delivered to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in a USB at the summit on April 27, 2018 as the saved data of the USB cannot be verified, and the information on the New Economic Initiative for the Korean Peninsula cannot be confirmed in the general archives of the 19th president either,”
“Why did Moon not leave the USB data that he gave to Kim Jong-un?”
The Presidential Archives’ response seems to be that it does not have the USB data, which was handed over to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, among the materials that former President Moon did not designate as presidential records. Furthermore, it is not possible to search whether former President Moon designated the USB data as a presidential record.
If former President Moon designated the USB data as a presidential-designated record, it cannot be viewed or disclosed for up to 30 years without a warrant from the head of the relevant high court or the consent of two-thirds of the National Assembly.
“Former President Moon Jae-in has to make it crystal-clear why he designated the USB data that he said he handed over to Kim Jong-un as a presidential record. I do not understand why he did not leave a copy of the USB data that he gave to North Korea while just saying the USB contained good information for developing the Korean Peninsula,” Goo pointed out in the call on the 4th.
