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| ▲ This Sept. 30, 2025, file photo, provided by the defense ministry, shows Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back (3rd from L) posing with members of a special advisory committee in Seoul on reforming the military in the aftermath of the failed martial law bid in December 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
military command-reform
Defense ministry to dismantle counterintelligence command involved in martial law bid
By Lee Minji
SEOUL, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) -- The defense ministry will disband the Defense Counterintelligence Command embroiled in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's 2024 botched martial law bid, officials said Thursday, in what marks the command's dissolution after 49 years.
The command is suspected of having played a key role in Yoon's short-lived martial law imposition in December 2024, with its former commander standing trial for allegedly deploying troops to the National Assembly and the National Election Commission on the night of the martial law attempt.
"We have advised for the constructive dismantling of the Defense Counterintelligence Command and transferring or removing its existing functions, such as security investigation, counterintelligence and security audit," Hong Hyun-ik, the chief of a special committee tasked with reforming the command, said in a briefing.
The committee, comprising military, government and civilian officials, advised the military to establish a new organization specialized in securing counterintelligence, counterterrorism and arms industry intelligence, Hong said.
It also called for installing a separate unit tasked with personnel verification, while transferring the command's investigative functions to the ministry's existing investigative headquarters. The committee advised that contested functions, such as collecting information on military personnel and trends, should be scrapped.
To prevent possible lapses that could occur in the process of dispersing the functions across different units, the committee called for the establishment of a cooperative body to share relevant information.
"The reform of the Defense Counterintelligence Command should be conducted in a direction that strengthens counterintelligence and security functions that are pivotal to national security, while ensuring democratic control and constitutional values," Hong said.
The plan comes as the defense ministry has been seeking to rebuild the military following the martial law bid that has led to the removal of senior military leaders from office, including the former chiefs of the counterintelligence command as well as the defense intelligence command and capital defense command.
In a report submitted to lawmakers last year, the ministry said the counterintelligence command holds "excessive" rights ranging from securing intelligence to investigation, saying its functions should be adjusted so that it only specializes in counterintelligence activities.
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