Notorious Seoul Major Crimes Division Moves into History... Intelligence Police Handling Security and National Security Law Cases Relocate to Naejadong Building

The integrated building for the Cyber Investigation Division and the Forensic Science Unit has been completed on the site of the Okindong Counterintelligence Office of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. The Counterintelligence Office that was located here once concealed its presence under disguised names such as "Buguk Sangsa."

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The anti-communist investigation unit (security investigation unit), which was a site of state violence during the military dictatorship, is effectively being dismantled, and most of the police officers who conducted intelligence and investigative activities outside, including the anti-communist investigation unit, will move into the Jongno Naejadong building of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

According to the police on the 9th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has decided to move all five security investigation teams (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), which handle security cases and National Security Act cases, into the annex of the Naejadong building in Jongno-gu by as early as the first half of next year. The new integrated building was recently completed on the site of Okindong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, where the anti-communist investigation unit 1 of the Seoul Police Agency, established in 1979, was located. The Cyber Investigation Division and the Scientific Investigation Division of the Seoul Police Agency began moving into this building on the 6th.

A Seoul Police Agency official said, "The Security Investigation Team 1 already moved into the Naejadong Seoul Police Agency building in Jongno-gu last year," adding, "The offices vacated by the Cyber Investigation Division and Scientific Investigation Division after their move will be remodeled and then occupied by Security Investigation Teams 2 to 5." He also stated, "The anti-communist investigation unit, which holds the dark past of the dictatorship era, is in the process of being dismantled." However, the Security Investigation Team 6, which is responsible for industrial secrets, international terrorism, and other international crimes, is expected to remain as an external agency.

The Intelligence Analysis Division’s Analysis Cooperation Section (formerly Intelligence Sections 1 and 4) and the Intelligence Situation Division’s Situation Cooperation Section (formerly Intelligence Sections 2 and 4), which conduct intelligence activities from external offices under the Public Safety Intelligence Foreign Affairs Department of the Seoul Police Agency, have already moved into the Seoul Police Agency since the 2016 political scandal. These intelligence police units previously used the Namsan 1 substation and the Hanwha Building 2 substation, both of which have been dismantled. As a result, the traditional security crime investigation functions related to security cases and the National Security Act have effectively been consolidated into the Naejadong building of the Seoul Police Agency.

The Cyber Investigation Division and the Forensic Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency began moving into the integrated office building in Okindong, Seoul, starting from the 6th. The Cyber Investigation Division and the Forensic Investigation Division are relocating their belongings for the move.

The anti-communist investigation unit was an agency established by the police to arrest and investigate individuals involved in acts of treason, violations of the National Security Act, and espionage activities, primarily for counterintelligence purposes. It was also called the security investigation unit. In 1987, the late Seoul National University student martyr Park Jong-cheol died after being tortured at the former Namyeong-dong anti-communist investigation unit of the National Police Agency, which sparked the June Democratic Uprising that year. Although located in exposed residential areas, access was strictly controlled unlike regular police stations. In the past, it concealed its existence under disguised names such as ‘Buguk Sangsa’ (Seoul Police Agency Okindong substation).

This move by the Seoul Police Agency follows the recommendation of the Police Reform Committee, an advisory body to the National Police Agency in 2018, which advised relocating 27 anti-communist investigation units operating in 43 security investigation teams affiliated with the National Police Agency and local police agencies to local police agency buildings. The reform committee’s order at the time was to minimize the roles of security divisions and security sections at the police station level and to conduct police security activities primarily at the local police agency level.