South Korean Spy Agency Owns Up To 1973 Kidnap Of Country's Future President

(AHN) - The spy agency of South Korea has owned up to the 1973 abduction of future President Kim Dae-jung.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) added that the kidnapping of Kim by its forerunner Korea Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), had the silent support of then President Park Chung-hee, BBC News reported.

"This committee confirms that its precursor...undertook a kidnapping in Japan, and expresses deep regret over this," the NIS said in its report.

The NIS conducted a three-year inquiry into the kidnapping of Kim from a hotel in Tokyo. Kim, in 1971, lost to an election against Park. His abductor reportedly intended to kill him by throwing him overboard.

Reports said August 8, 1973 abduction failed after a U.S. plane arrived and rescued him from the scared kidnappers. He was since then placed under house arrest and imprisonment by Park who "at least gave a passive approval" to the plot.

There was "physical evidence to support the possibility that, up to a certain point, the plan had been pursued as an assassination," the NIS report read.

Kim was elected as the eighth president of the Republic of Korea in 1997. He bagged the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his vision for the Koreans which led him to pursue policy of engagement with North Korea, Nobelprize.org said.

Nobelprize.org reported that then junior opposition leader Kim was widely acclaimed for his vision and courage when he, in an outdoor rally, went against Park's move for a charter change in 1969 that would allow him a third term in office.

In the Assembly election campaign, Kim experienced the first of at least five attempts on his life by his political rivals. Kim's present leg injury was sustained after a truck rammed into his car.

Nobelprize.org had said that the kidnap plan was to "eliminate" Kim.