[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] On the afternoon of the 24th, members of the Democratic Party of Korea belonging to the National Assembly Intelligence Committee unilaterally passed the amendment to the National Intelligence Service Act at the bill subcommittee. Members of both ruling and opposition parties in the Intelligence Committee had earlier held a bill subcommittee meeting in the morning to discuss the processing but ultimately failed to narrow their differences.
Kim Byung-gi, the ruling party's secretary from the Democratic Party, said to reporters after passing the amendment, “The subcommittee has approved the amendment. We reached an agreement with the People Power Party on all related provisions, but there were differences regarding the transfer of counterintelligence investigative authority,” adding, “In the end, the Democratic Party processed it unilaterally, which I regret.”
Regarding the transfer of counterintelligence investigative authority, the Democratic Party has maintained the position that the investigative authority should be transferred even if it includes a proviso of a ‘three-year implementation deferral,’ while the People Power Party has insisted on not transferring and maintaining the current status.
Ha Tae-kyung, the opposition party's secretary from the People Power Party, reacted strongly after the subcommittee agreement collapsed, stating, “The law transferring counterintelligence investigative authority to the police is a law that revives the Namyeong-dong Counterintelligence Office and returns us to the Fifth Republic.” Through Facebook on the same day, Ha said, “If the police monopolize domestic intelligence and also take over counterintelligence investigative authority, it will ultimately become the Fifth Republic police,” adding, “Even if counterintelligence investigative authority is transferred to the police, personnel will remain in the National Intelligence Service, so a separate budget must be spent to newly establish personnel, equipment, and facilities. Are you going to unilaterally pass the National Intelligence Service Act, which wastes budget, without bipartisan agreement?”
In response, Representative Kim explained, “It has not yet been decided to transfer to the police.” He emphasized, “The bill does not yet specify where the investigative authority will go. For now, it is just the police,” and added, “If an independent investigative agency is established or an investigative headquarters is launched in the meantime, it should be comprehensively discussed then.”
The Democratic Party intends to process the ‘three-year deferral’ plan for counterintelligence investigative authority at the plenary session on the 27th. Representative Kim added, “Since the transfer will take effect from January 1, 2024, duties can be performed as usual until December 31, 2023.”
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