Defense ministry abolishes counterintelligence command to curb political interference

The defense ministry on Tuesday announced a complete overhaul of its military intelligence structure, abolishing the Defense Counterintelligence Command to prevent political interference by armed forces information agencies. The restructuring, enacted through a presidential decree promulgated July 28, takes effect July 31.

The move is a follow-up to a national task aimed at reforming military intelligence agencies into democratic organizations trusted by the public following the command's dissolution. Under the new framework, the command's functions will be dispersed across three distinct organizations. The Ministry of National Defense Investigation Headquarters will assume responsibility for investigating crimes related to insurrection and treason under the Criminal Act and mutiny under the Military Criminal Act, taking over existing security investigation functions and joint investigation rights during martial law. Counterintelligence and defense industry security activities will fall under the newly formed National Defense Counterintelligence Headquarters, while the National Defense Security Support Group will handle central security audits and accident investigations for units at the corps level or higher.

To reinforce democratic control, the ministry will appoint senior civilian officials from outside the military to lead inspection rooms within both the counterintelligence and investigation headquarters. These officials will oversee audits and job inspections, and personnel can now raise objections to the inspection room head if ordered by superiors to infringe upon constitutional rights. A compliance inspection committee directly under the minister and a reporting system to the National Assembly will also be established to increase transparency.

Minister of National Defense Ahn Kyu-back described the move as a historic turning point. "The reorganization of the counterintelligence command goes beyond simple structural adjustment to fundamentally restructure our military intelligence agencies so they can never again intervene in politics," Ahn said.

The ministry will abolish tasks unrelated to core counterintelligence work, such as monitoring political trends, gathering personnel intelligence, and collecting information on illegal activities involving power figures. Additionally, the defense ministry intends to push for the enactment of the provisional 'Military Counterintelligence Unit Duty Performance Act' within this year to define the scope of counterintelligence activities and establish penalties for illegal operations.