A South Korean intelligence official has been found dead in an apparent suicide amid a growing political scandal over a covert hacking program used by the country’s spy agency, police said Sunday.
The 45-year-old from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) was discovered dead in his car Saturday on a mountain road in Yongin, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Seoul.
Police said the man, identified only by his family name Lim, apparently took his own life after leaving a handwritten will in his car giving details of how the NIS had used a controversial hacking program.
Government and NIS officials have admitted purchasing the program from an Italian company but say it was only used to boost Seoul’s cyber warfare capabilities against Pyongyang and not for any domestic monitoring.
Opposition legislators, however, argued the NIS has used the program to spy on South Koreans.
Lee Chul-Woo, a ruling party legislator who heads a parliamentary intelligence committee, said Lim had purchased and run the hacking program, which allows users to track smartphones and computers by installing spyware.
In a copy of his will released by police, Lim insisted the NIS had not spied on South Koreans and apologized for deleting files relating to the program.
“There was no monitoring of people at home,” he said.
“I deleted information that created misunderstandings about our counter-terrorism and covert operations on North Korea… It was a mistake on my part. But there is nothing to be worried about over any of my actions.”
