Leading Korean Presidential Candidate On Defensive Over Secret Memo With North Korea

This was a well known controversy back in 2007

A former top diplomat on Friday disclosed a document to back up his claim that Seoul officials consulted North Korea before a key U.N. vote in 2007. It added fuel to a political fire that has engulfed presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in, who was then a chief presidential aide.

In October, Song Min-soon published a memoir in which he said that South Korea abstained in a vote for the 2007 U.N. resolution on North Korea’s human rights violations after discussing the issue with Pyongyang officials.

Song served as the foreign minister from 2006 to 2008 in the liberal Roh Moo-hyun government.

Moon, who was the presidential chief of staff and involved in the decision, has claimed Song’s allegation is not true.

In an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo daily, Song disclosed the document he alleged was made by the then-presidential office based on secret communications with the North.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but long time ROK Heads may remember that the Roh Moo-hyun years were when the South Korean government was actually giving more money to North Korea to help them build nuclear weapons and missiles then for the upkeep of the US-ROK alliance.