Replacement of National Intelligence Service 1st Deputy Director Exposing 'Politician Arrest'... Yoon Exercises Personnel Authority

Special Advisor Oh Horyong, Director of the National Intelligence Service, Appointed as New First Deputy Director
"Pure Intelligence Officer, Flexible Response to Security Issues"
Yoon Continues Exercising Government Personnel Authority... Opposition Party Protests

President Yoon Suk-yeol's successor to Hong Jang-won, the former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) who revealed that Yoon ordered the "arrest of politicians and others" during the declaration of martial law, has been appointed. Although President Yoon apologized for the martial law incident and expressed his intention to step down from overall state affairs, he continues to exercise personnel authority over political positions.

The NIS announced on the 8th that Oh Ho-ryong, a special advisor to the NIS director, was appointed on the 6th as the successor to former first deputy director Hong Jang-won. The newly appointed first deputy director Oh was born in 1960, graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in English Language and Literature, and was appointed through the NIS open recruitment. He is known to have worked mainly in overseas divisions for about 30 years.

Cho Tae-yong, Director of the National Intelligence Service, is attending the National Assembly Intelligence Committee's audit of the National Intelligence Service held at the National Intelligence Service in Naegok-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 29th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

An NIS official explained, "He is a pure intelligence officer who has only been engaged in overseas fields such as foreign intelligence collection and external cooperation," adding, "We expect him to contribute to flexibly responding to rapidly changing security issues."

Earlier, former first deputy director Hong Jang-won appeared before the National Assembly Intelligence Committee on the 6th and claimed that he was dismissed because he did not follow President Yoon's order to arrest politicians including Han Dong-hoon, leader of the People Power Party, and Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party. Director Cho Tae-yong denied ever receiving an order to arrest politicians and rebutted that Hong made statements that undermined political neutrality, which led to the recommendation for personnel changes.

An NIS official stated, "The claim that former first deputy director Hong was replaced because he did not follow the order to arrest politicians is completely untrue," adding, "After the martial law was lifted, Hong said, 'Considering the current situation, it would be better for the director to call Representative Lee Jae-myung,' and the director judged that such remarks could undermine the political neutrality of the NIS and recommended his replacement to the president."

Meanwhile, Han Dong-hoon said to reporters the previous day that President Yoon would effectively be excluded from his duties until his resignation, but President Yoon approved the resignation of Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min that afternoon. In response, the Democratic Party criticized that President Yoon is still exercising government personnel authority along with military command.

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