Nation’s largest Buddhist order demands prosecution investigate allegation


The nation’s largest Buddhist order on Tuesday lambasted the Lee Myung-bak administration over allegations that its top officials were placed under illegal surveillance by the defunct ethics division of the Prime Minister’s Office.

According to the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the team spied on Ven. Boseon, chief of its central council, and Ven. Jikwan, head of the order’s administrative body, between 2005 and 2009.

“It has been revealed that the Lee Myung-bak administration conducted illegal surveillance and political maneuvering against the Buddhist community. It is intentional despotism,” its central council said at a press conference on Tuesday. The council added that any attempt at a cover-up by the government would anger 2 million Buddhists.

“It can only be interpreted as an attempt at suppressing Buddhism in Korea, and if it is true the Lee Myung-bak administration must apologize and step down immediately.”

Following the press conference the council members went to the central government complex, where the Prime Minister’s Office is located, in protest.

According to the Buddhist order, Boseon was informed by the prosecutors that his name came up in surveillance reports while they were analyzing reports on Jikwan.

The prosecutors reportedly partially denied the statement saying that the only Buddhist monk mentioned in the documents compiled by the PMO’s ethics division is Boseon and that concerned documents appear to be simple reports on his activities.

The claims concerning Buddhist monks are the latest in a series of similar developments as the prosecutors delve deeper into the illegal surveillance activities conducted by the PMO’s ethics division early on in the Lee Myung-bak administration.

The case was initially investigated in 2010, after a businessman revealed that he was placed under surveillance by the defunct division after he posted materials negative toward President Lee on his blog.

An ensuing investigation revealed the claims to be true, and that officials of the division destroyed evidence during the 2010 investigation, which was concluded with a number of PMO officials being sentenced to prison terms.

The case, however, was reopened earlier this year when former PMO official Jang Jin-su revealed that he was acting under orders from high-level Cheong Wa Dae officials when he destroyed evidence in 2010.

The new investigation has so far revealed that a number of high-level officials were involved, and that the ethics division was established for the purpose of protecting the president from political attacks. In addition, the probe has uncovered evidence that the division may have reported to the president on their activities.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)