Former Sankei bureau chief who questioned Park Geun-hye’s Sewol ferry whereabouts appointed Japanese intelligence adviser

Tatsuya Kato, the former Seoul bureau chief of Japan’s Sankei Shimbun, has taken a post in Japan’s newly created intelligence agency after becoming known in South Korea for an article about former President Park Geun-hye’s whereabouts during the Sewol ferry disaster.

Japan’s Cabinet Secretariat appointed Kato on the first day of the month as a Cabinet Intelligence Analysis Specialist within the National Intelligence Bureau, according to Japanese media including The Yomiuri Shimbun. His duties are expected to include analysis of developments on the Korean Peninsula.

The National Intelligence Bureau was launched in July by the Sanae Takaichi administration to strengthen the government’s intelligence-gathering and analytical functions. It expanded and reorganized the existing Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office and operates directly under the prime minister’s office. The bureau also serves as the secretariat for Japan’s National Intelligence Council.

Japan’s government has assigned analysts to the bureau to conduct advanced assessments of particular regions and fields. Kato’s appointment places his previous experience covering the Korean Peninsula within that new structure.

In 2014, Kato wrote an online column for Sankei Shimbun that repeated a rumor that Park had met Jung Yoon-hoi on the day of the Sewol disaster. The article questioned the former president’s so-called “seven hours” during the disaster and led to Kato facing trial in South Korea on defamation allegations.