Spy agency set to transfer counterespionage authority to police, but doubts remain

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) will transfer its counterespionage authority to the police on Jan. 1, according to an enforcement decree issued Tuesday...

The National Security Intelligence headquarters in southern Seoul on Nov. 1. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) will transfer its counterespionage authority to the police on Jan. 1, according to an enforcement decree issued Tuesday.

The decree was passed as part of the former Moon Jae-in administration’s initiative to transfer some of the intelligence agency's responsibilities to the national police. It stipulates that the intelligence agency will no longer conduct counterespionage investigations starting next year.

The NIS officers can still assist police investigations, however, to the extent of sharing information and know-how to help the police fulfill their new role.

“The fact that the government has enabled the National Intelligence Service access to criminal situations through an enforcement ordinance should help fill any gaps in expertise on the matter caused by the transfer of investigative authority next year,” said Nam Sung-wook, professor of political science at Korea University.

“It will also be important to prepare the police for counterespionage investigations in third countries,” Nam said.

Other experts have expressed doubts about the police's ability to investigate North Korean espionage attempts, partly due to the NIS’s years of experience in collecting intelligence using domestic and international networks, which cannot be transferred overnight.

“There is growing pressure on police officers to perform tasks they may not have been trained for,” a knowledgeable source told the JoongAng Ilbo recently. “There is already talk among police officers that they may be demoted if they do not perform counterespionage tasks well.”

The process of stripping the NIS of its counterespionage investigative authority dates back to 2017 when the NIS was found to have meddled in domestic politics and even wiretapped citizens illegally.

“Investigating pro-Communist activities and North Korea’s attempts to overthrow the South Korean government will be excluded from the scope of our duties,” the agency said in its news release in November 2017.

Abolishing the NIS’s power to investigate anti-state crimes was a presidential pledge of then-President Moon. Moon and his associates had long argued that the NIS’s predecessors — the Korea Central Intelligence Agency and the Agency for National Security Planning — abused their power to oppress opponents of authoritarian regimes in the past.

The Yoon Suk Yeol government has been less vocal about reforming the NIS.

BY ESTHER CHUNG, CHUNG YEONG-GYO [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]