By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) on Tuesay said that it may seek cooperation of the Associated Press to provide it with the details of an inquiry it made to the Foreign Ministry earlier this month about Kim Sun-il, a Korean translator kidnapped and murdered by insurgents in Iraq last week.

``If it is necessary, we will not rule out the option of asking the U.S. news organization how its reporter asked ministry officials about the late Kim,’’ said an official of the state auditor investigating a potential foul-up in the ministry’s handling of the kidnap-murder case.

The AP had belatedly admitted that it had inquired to the ministry about Kim on June 3 after its branch office in Baghdad received a videotape of Kim talking to his captors and now the BAI is focusing its investigations on whether the ministry officials had properly dealt with the AP inquiry.

The official, however, said that it is not entitled to investigate the AP since it is a foreign news organization.

The official’s remarks followed instructions by President Roh Moo-hyun that all facts should be uncovered as to the way the ministry officials handled the AP inquiry.

During his meeting with top aides, he also instructed that he will take disciplinary action, depending on the outcome of the BAI inquiry.

Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, National Intelligence Service chief Koh Young-koo and National Security Council vice head Lee Jong-seok are under public pressure to step down for their alleged lack of coordination in preventing Kim’s tragic death.

Meanwhile, Kwon Chin-ho, national security advisor to the president, on Tuesday stressed the need for the AP’s cooperation.

``It is possible that the AP inquiry was conducted without even mentioning Kim’s name as done by other news agencies,’’ Kwon was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying. ``If everything is brought to light, I think that the foreign ministry will be exonerated,’’ he said.

The ministry admitted last week that at least five officials remember getting phone calls from the AP, asking any missing case of South Korean in Iraq, but said they do not have any memory of hearing the name of Kim from the reporter.

Under a directive from the presidential office, the BAI began its inquiry this week into Kim’s death.

KT Corp., the country’s No. 1 fixed-line service provider, told The Korea Times that it is unable to release any phone records of conversations between the ministry and the AP unless it is officially requested by a law enforcement agency.

``The BAI and the foreign ministry have no right to enforce us to give them the phone call records,’’ a KT official said on a condition of anonymity. ``We, however, can release it if they manage to get the help of other agencies like the prosecution or the national intelligence service.’’

He questioned whether the phone calls between the ministry and the AP are related to any criminal investigation or national security. In addition, he raised a possibility that the reporter might have called to the ministry by using his or her mobile phone. In that case, he predicted the investigation would become more complicated.

The phone call records can help reveal who in the ministry did speak with the AP reporter and how long the conversation continued, he explained.

im@koreatimes.co.kr