New findings about the government office that conducted surveillance on private citizens critical of President Lee Myung-bak raise the possibility that Lee, his chief of staff, or both, received reports on the spying. Lee needs to make clear whether or not he was involved.

A widening investigation into the case also bolsters the belief that Kwon Jae-jin should resign as justice minister because his retention of the post is thwarting a criminal investigation into the role he allegedly played in covering up the illegal surveillance as the senior presidential secretary of civil affairs.

President Lee needs to tell the nation whether or not he received any report from the office. He should also demand his justice minister resign if he does not quit voluntarily.

The office that spied on private citizens was established in 2008, purportedly to assist the prime minister’s office in administering the ethics of public officeholders. As such, it was officially placed under the supervision of the prime minister

But a document written by one official involved in the case says that the primary purpose of the office was to help the Lee administration break through resistance by public officeholders appointed by Lee’s immediate predecessor, Rho Moo-hyun. It adds that pressure should be put on those failing to follow, or resisting, President Lee’s policy line to resign and that the office targeted 39 executives at state-run corporations in this way as of September 2008.

It was not long before the Lee administration started to put pressure on Roh-appointed chief executive officers of state-run corporations and heads of state-funded public organizations to resign from their posts. It threatened to file criminal charges against those who refused to resign.

The document, which prosecutors have recently obtained, says special assignments given to the office were under the control of those “absolutely loyal to the VIP (the president)” and that the office would report on them to “the VIP or the presidential chief of staff via the secret BH (Blue House) chain of command.” It also states the office was to report to the prime minister when it came to mundane assignments.

Simply put, the office, put under the control of those loyal to Lee, acted as if it were his extralegal royal guard ― a practice that cannot be tolerated in a democracy.

Another document reportedly retrieved from a portable hard disk drive, of which prosecutors recently took possession, shows that the ethics office spied on not just Lee’s civilian critics but lawmakers critical of the president, be they affiliated with the ruling or opposition party. The prosecutors obtained the drive when they recently conducted a search and seizure at the home of the sister of a jailed official, who had claimed to have destroyed all evidence of illegal surveillance.

The official, jailed for the destruction of the evidence of spying on a civilian in 2010, allegedly told a visitor that the destruction order came from the office of the senior presidential secretary of civil affairs. As Kwon had the post at the time, it is inevitable for prosecutors to summon him for questioning.

The prosecutors that arrested several officials on charges of conducting illegal surveillance or destroying evidence have repeatedly claimed no links connecting their criminal offenses to the office of the senior presidential secretary of civil affairs. For his part, Kwon said it was inappropriate for him to say what had happened or had not happened in the office that he had previously headed.

True, there is no statutory regulation banning the summoning of an incumbent justice minister for questioning. But it is inadvisable to take legal action against him, as was seen in the case of Rep. Park Hee-tae, who had to resign as speaker of the National Assembly before subjecting himself to a criminal inquiry in February.

Kwon should resign as soon as possible. He is mistaken if he believes he can protect himself if he retains his post. Public pressure is mounting on President Lee to dismiss him and make a clean breast of the surveillance case himself.