South Korea has a new military intelligence unit. The Ministry of National Defense reported that under an amended military ordinance, the new unit dubbed the Defense Security Support Command (DSSC) began operations 1 September. The new DSSC replaces the disbanded, scandal-tainted Defense Security Command (DSC), shut down in early August by President Moon Jae-in. The DSSC is severely limited in its mandate and manpower. The DSSC operates with a highly reduced workforce. The former security command, the DSC, consisted of some 4,100. After the restructuring that began last month, the defense ministry decided to cap the number of personnel at 2,900.
The Scandal that Brought Down a Behemoth
The DSC has always been a rather powerful organization. Originally set up in 1950 as a consolidation of intelligence assets from all of South Korea’s military branches, DSC always enjoyed a highly privileged status. It was never really subservient to the defense minister, who was technically the boss of the organization. Top brass of DSC were able to report directly to the president, and thus developed close ties to, and influence over, broader national policy issues. DSC’s political meddling came to its apex in 2016 during the controversy over President Park Geun-hye and her long- time abuse of government power. Revelations of Park’s scandals threw the country into a collective state of outrage. Massive protests were all over the country. Some of these events attracted over a million participants. There were many in the political establishment that saw these organized rally campaigns as a threat to societal order. If activists could attract such numbers in their effort to demand Park be removed, what wrath could they muster if she didn’t end up leaving office? As the decision of the Constitutional Court on the matter grew closer, the DSC decided to start planning for the worst. In early 2017, the military intelligence unit began secretly formulating strategies for the implementation of nationwide martial law. In the end, Park was in fact impeached, and the protests subsided. But the scheming of the overly zealous DSC came back to haunt them. When reports of the unit’s plans became known to the public through an information leak some two months ago, it re-ignited the countrywide fury of the anti-Park movement.
Following revelations of DSC’s conspiracies, public trust in the organization plummeted. According to polls, eighty percent of South Koreans wanted the organization disbanded. In early July, President Moon Jae-in ordered an independent investigation into the allegations against the DSC. As the investigation built traction, more dubious activities of the intelligence body started to surface, including reports of spying on private citizens. Recognizing the power and influence of the DSC, and suspecting the unit may meddle in the proceedings, the independent investigation team was composed of military prosecutors outside the military establishment, with the head of the team tapped by Defense Minister Song.
The findings of the team were pretty damning. “The military is supposed to serve the people, but it was trying to point guns at the people…. We will hold everyone involved accountable and find out whether they committed treason,” said Rep. Choo Mi-ae, the leader of the ruling Democratic Party, on Monday.
Considering the background leading up to the reform, it isn’t surprising that policymakers’ main concern is creating an organization the public can trust. President Moon Jae-in stressed that the newly-created military intel command will never be misused for interference into domestic politics, and it will focus on its original mission of anti-espionage and security-related intelligence activities. “The fundamental purpose of disbanding the DSC and creating a new military intel command is to make sure that the new command could completely sever all its past history and never repeat past errors like political interference and civilian monitoring.” The newly appointed DSSC chief General Nam Young-sin, also pledged to cut long-lasting political ties between the organization and the executive branch. “All members should do their best to clearly understand the scope of their missions, by discerning the things that have to be done, and the things that should never be done,” Said Nam. “By doing that, the command can regain public trust and recognition as a necessary, professional military body.” In a similar vein, Defense Minister Song Young-moo called for the need to transform the security command into a scandal-free, transparent organization without any sense of entitlement. “The authority given to the Command should be used justly for the people, with a fear of the people in mind to serve them. Members need to shed their sense of entitlement, respect troops’ human rights, and devote themselves to fulfill their duties of serving the country. That’s the path of honor for yourselves and for the military.”
Now is the time to reflect deeply on the past and move to the future,” Song said during the launch ceremony for the DSSC. The new unit has become an important issue of bipartisanship, with both the ruling and opposition parties backing the fledgling DSSC. “The DSSC launch is a big leap-forward in that it has institutionalized the military’s political neutrality,” said Hong Ik-pyo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) also welcomed the launch of the new intelligence unit. “Securing political neutrality should be the top priority of the new organization,” LKP spokesman Yoon Young-seok said. “The DSSC should become a key organization for national security amid growing concerns that the rapid disbandment of the former intelligence unit could have created a security vacuum.”
A Power Shift in the Midst of the Fray
There are two important takeaways from these recent events in ROK, a series of rather disturbing events that can hopefully offer South Koreans some closure.
First is how this all plays into the reconciliation process between North and South Korea, an event that if it ends well, could be one of the biggest diplomatic successes of the past several decades.
The reconnection of the two countries has come in stages. First the steps were symbolic only. Gestures that were meaningless in essence but at least demonstrated a mutual willingness to cooperate. The events at the last Winter Olympics is a good example. Gradually, however, the joint activities between the two Koreas became more substantial. We are now at a point where partnerships on major projects are in the realm of possibility. Last week, for instance, media reported that the North and South are negotiating on substantial international rail line projects. Perhaps the single biggest accomplishment in this regard was the restoration of military communications lines in mid-August. These lines were suspended during heightened tensions between the two countries in 2016. In a statement the day communications came back on line, the South Korean Ministry of Defense announced that, “In the interest of implementing the terms of the Panmunjeom Declaration [the agreement reached last April between the North and South] and the inter-Korean general officer-level military talks [six-week-long talks held between mid June and the end of July], South and North Korean military authorities have completed restoration of the military communication line.” The restoration of the landline some three weeks ago came a month after the sea-based communication platform was reset on 16 July. A more obedient military intelligence apparatus can only help this initiative. Imagine a South Korea with a rogue spy agency in the middle of highly sensitive reconciliation-geared talks with a less than stable neighbor to its north. The DSC overhaul likely could not have come at a better time. It begs the question if maybe, just maybe, the one responsible for leaking the damning information on DSC had timed his or her actions to produce this highly desirable result?
Intelligence Corruption and ROK
A more “big picture” lesson worth contemplating is the place of intelligence with a free society and its political structure. Many democracies have had to address this question. The United States, too, has had to confront many dark tales of its own intelligence assets engaging in rather questionable operations against its own citizens. South Korea can serve as a lesson in this regard. Sadly, despite being a thriving liberal society, the country has a very rough history of abuse of power and intelligence. Still fresh in the minds of many South Koreans are the events of the late 1970s in which the country was thrown into disarray due to a clash between the executive branch of government and the intelligence apparatus. A rivalry between then-President Park Chung-hee and the primary intelligence body, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The schism ended in the assassination of president Park by the CIA’s director Kim Jae-kyu. The subsequent investigation into the assassination was headed by the CIA’s fellow intelligence body, the DSC and its director Chun Doo Hwan.
Chun used the investigation to propel himself politically. In 1979, along with several loyal army generals, Chun arrested the military leader of ROK that had taken over following Park’s death. The event is known in South Korean history as the Coup D’etat of 12 December. Shortly afterward, Chun became the fifth president of ROK, and held the office for eight years. He left a legacy of brutal repression of his political opposition and violent responses to civil unrest. Understanding this background gives some insight into why South Koreans are so reactive these days to political corruption, especially anything involving collusion with intelligence services. As they should be.
All of this should stand as a strong eternal lesson to the rest of the free world. The need for division of mandates within government structures, so strongly emphasized in western political thought, should not be taken as a suggestion. Nothing good can ever come from military or intelligence organizations taking a pseudo-policy role within the government.
