The Ministry of National Defense building [Photo by Park Hae-muk]
The Ministry of National Defense building [Photo by Park Hae-muk]

The Defense Counterintelligence Command was dissolved Monday after 49 years, as two successor organizations — the Defense Counterintelligence Headquarters and the Defense Security Support Group — officially launched to take over parts of its functions.

Defense Minister Ahn Kyu-baek presided over a founding ceremony for the Defense Counterintelligence Headquarters at the ministry's Gwacheon complex on Monday, the Ministry of National Defense said.

The ministry had announced draft legislation for the new headquarters in June before the Cabinet approved and promulgated it last month. "The establishment of the Defense Counterintelligence Headquarters was pursued as part of the government's national agenda to break from the failures of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, which was deeply implicated in the illegal martial law declaration of Dec. 3, and to restore public trust and reform the organization along democratic lines," a ministry official said.

The new headquarters will operate as a specialized military counterintelligence organization, shifting its operational paradigm and sharpening its core capabilities to proactively address future security threats.

In the counterintelligence domain, the headquarters will strengthen coordination with domestic and foreign partner agencies and introduce advanced equipment to bolster its capacity against increasingly covert and sophisticated intelligence operations by North Korea and other foreign actors, as well as terrorist threats.

In the defense industry sector, the headquarters will focus on preventing the leak of military secrets while also developing new areas of work, including counterintelligence support for US Navy vessel maintenance, repair and overhaul operations and for major strategic assets.

In the cyber domain, the headquarters plans to support the implementation of the K-RMF (Risk Management Framework) within the military and concentrate on blocking security threats in cyberspace, including technology security support for advanced fields such as AI and satellites.

Also on Monday, Deputy Defense Minister Lee Du-hee presided over a separate founding ceremony for the Defense Security Support Group at the ministry's annex. The group will handle military security work, including central security audits of corps-level and higher units and investigations into security incidents.

The ministry said it would continue to operate a "Security Investigation Council" bringing together the Defense Counterintelligence Headquarters, the Defense Investigations Headquarters and the Defense Security Support Group to share security and intelligence information and coordinate joint responses among the relevant agencies.


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