The South Korean government has approved a plan to disband the Military Intelligence Command and redistribute its core functions to the newly established Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Security Support Command, and the Defense Investigation Agency. This marks the end of the Military Intelligence Command, which was originally established in 1977 as the Military Security Command, after 49 years of operation.
President Lee Jae-myung chaired the 31st National Security Council meeting at the Blue House on July 21, where 20 presidential decrees and one general agenda item were reviewed and approved.
According to the approved decree to abolish the Military Intelligence Command, the agency's responsibilities for intelligence, investigation, and security will be transferred to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Investigation Agency, and the Defense Security Support Command, respectively. Legal grounds for the establishment and operation of these new organizations have also been prepared.
The key focus of this reorganization is to dismantle the previously centralized Military Intelligence Command and restructure it into specialized agencies based on their functions.
The Defense Intelligence Agency and the Defense Security Support Command are set to be established on July 31. The Defense Intelligence Agency will handle intelligence activities related to defense and defense industry, as well as cybersecurity, while the Defense Security Support Command will oversee security audits and investigations of security incidents at the corps level and above.
The security investigation functions of the former Military Intelligence Command and its joint investigation authority during martial law will be transferred to the Defense Investigation Agency.
Additionally, functions related to monitoring and personnel intelligence, which have been a source of controversy in the Military Intelligence Command's history, as well as tasks related to illegal and corrupt information gathering, will be abolished institutionally.
During the meeting, a proposal to revoke 130 honors awarded to 119 individuals involved in martial law and espionage cases was also approved. This includes the cancellation of honors for Admiral Kim Jong-gon (Order of Military Merit, Eulji). President Lee stated that the government has effectively addressed long-standing distortions by revoking these awards.
To promote youth farming and rural settlement, a revision to the Agricultural Land Act was also approved, allowing the establishment of cafes and bakeries on agricultural land. Under current law, such establishments cannot be operated on agricultural land. However, in the future, agricultural producers or agricultural corporations will be able to obtain permits to establish food service businesses using their own agricultural products.
The scope of highway toll exemptions, previously limited to the disabled and national merit recipients, will be expanded to include multi-child families under a revision to the Toll Road Act. Families with two or more children under 19 will be eligible for toll discounts on weekends and holidays, with a 10% discount for two-child families and a 20% discount for families with three or more children.
In line with the implementation of a revision to the Industrial Safety and Health Act, which requires businesses to publicly disclose their safety and health status annually starting August 1, detailed criteria for this disclosure were also approved. The disclosure requirement will apply to employers with 500 or more regular employees or those with annual construction project amounts exceeding 120 billion won.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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