Late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun gave full authority to then defense minister to deal with a maritime border issue with North Korea ahead of inter-Korean minister-level talks in 2007, the former official said Saturday. \"I asked the president for full authority to conduct the ministerial talks according to my convictions and added that I not be given new orders during the negotiations,\" Kim Jang-soo, then defense minister who led a delegation to defense talks with North Korea in November 2007, said in a phone interview with Yonhap News Agency.