Lawmakers may view about 2.56 million presidential record items of the 2007 inter-Korean summit following their request to access them, a ruling party official said Friday.

Earlier this week, the National Assembly approved and delivered a request to look into the original transcript of the inter-Korean summit talks in a growing political controversy over former President Roh Moo-hyun’s remarks on the western sea border with the North.

Of the records, 340,000 items are classified as top secret, and can only be perused with a two-thirds parliamentary approval. Another 10,000 items are designated as ordinary secrets and 2.21 million items are ordinary records, the official said.

The records were made from Aug. 8, 2007, to Feb. 24, 2008, Roh’s last day in office. It means the politicians will be able to look into all the preparatory and follow-up meetings and measures taken by his government for the summit held in October 2007.

In related news, the main opposition Democratic Party sent a written warning to its members that voted against the decision to request disclosure of the 2007 summit transcript this week, raising a dispute over party operations, sources said Friday.

In the parliament vote on Tuesday, a total of 257 Assembly members agreed while 17 opposed, among whom were four DP members including Reps. Kim Sung-gon, Choo Mi-ae, Park Jie-won and Kim Seung-nam. They reportedly said they opposed because the disclosure created a bad precedent, hurt the national interest and was a diplomatic faux pas.

Observers said the move looks to be aimed to tighten the grip on the members as the standoff against the ruling Saenuri Party over the NLL controversy intensifies.

Allowing each member of the party to vote freely regardless of the party’s mainstream position has been one of the key political reform pledges touted by all presidential candidates last year including DP’s Moon Jae-in.


By Lee Joo-hee
(jhl@heraldcorp.com)