Blocking National Intelligence Service Counterintelligence Investigations, Prosecutors' Investigations Limited to 6 Crimes... Ruling Party, Government, and Blue House Discuss Power Agency Reforms

Renaming of National Intelligence Service to National Security Intelligence Agency
Specialization in Overseas and North Korean Intelligence Collection
Introduction of Metropolitan-Level Autonomous Police System

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea, the government, and the Blue House have decided to rename the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to the External Security Intelligence Service and strictly limit the NIS's scope of duties by removing domestic intelligence gathering and political interference, while abolishing its counterintelligence investigative authority. The scope for the prosecution's direct investigation will be limited to six major crimes, and the autonomous police system will be introduced with an integrated structure combining metropolitan-level city/provincial police agencies and basic-level police stations.

Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae is delivering opening remarks at the 'Party-Government-Civil Service Council for Power Institution Reform for the People' held at the National Assembly on the 30th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the 30th, the Democratic Party, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and the Blue House held a high-level party-government-Blue House meeting to discuss reform plans for power institutions and announced these initiatives.

According to the announcement, the parts related to domestic intelligence (IO) and counterintelligence investigative authority will be removed from the NIS's scope of duties. The counterintelligence investigative authority will be transferred to the police. Cho Jeong-sik, chairman of the Democratic Party's Policy Committee, explained regarding the NIS reform, "It includes strengthening external controls such as the National Assembly Intelligence Committee and the Board of Audit and Inspection, opening the position of the head of the Inspection Office to outsiders, operating an execution control review committee, strengthening internal controls, and enhancing criminal penalties for illegal acts such as political involvement by employees." The relevant bill will be promoted by Kim Byung-gi, a Democratic Party lawmaker and ruling party secretary of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee.

The scope for the prosecution's direct investigation will be limited to six major crimes (corruption, economic crimes, public officials, elections, defense industry crimes, and large-scale disasters). The party-government-Blue House agreed to include drug export/import crimes as economic crimes and cybercrimes against major information and communication infrastructure within the scope of large-scale disaster crimes.

The scope of investigations into public officials and corruption crimes has also been significantly reduced. The prosecution can investigate only cases involving public officials of grade 4 or higher, bribes of 30 million won or more, or fraud, breach of trust, and embezzlement damages of 500 million won or more. Additionally, when there is a disagreement between the prosecution and police regarding investigative procedures, prior consultation will be mandatory, and regular investigative councils will be established between the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the National Police Agency or the Korea Coast Guard to promote cooperation between investigative agencies. Furthermore, to expand the protection of human rights and due process during investigations, measures such as restrictions on late-night and long-duration interrogations and guarantees of the right to legal counsel will be included in the investigation guidelines and applied simultaneously to both the prosecution and police.

The party-government-Blue House decided to introduce a metropolitan-level autonomous police system to decentralize the excessive police power resulting from the adjustment of investigative authority between the prosecution and police. Unlike the existing dual model that establishes a separate autonomous police organization, the core idea is to integrate the metropolitan-level city/provincial police agencies and basic-level police station organizations. Chairman Cho explained, "This is a result of considering excessive costs from establishing autonomous police organizations, concerns about work confusion due to the dual structure of national and autonomous police, and public concerns over large-scale fiscal expenditures caused by the recent COVID-19 pandemic."

Autonomous police affairs will be commanded and supervised by the autonomous police committee under the city/provincial governor, while national affairs will be commanded by the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, and investigative affairs will be commanded by the head of the National Investigation Headquarters. The relevant amendment bill will be promoted by Kim Young-bae, a Democratic Party lawmaker on the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee. In a briefing that day, Representative Kim said, "We aim to propose the autonomous police-related law within the July National Assembly session if possible," and added, "We hope it will pass within this year's regular session."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.