NIS holds national counterintelligence strategy meeting, vows stronger inter-agency cooperation

The National Intelligence Service held its 13th National Counterintelligence Strategy Meeting on Friday and announced plans to strengthen cooperation among related agencies.

The National Counterintelligence Strategy Meeting is the country's highest deliberative body on counterintelligence, established under a presidential decree on counterintelligence operations. It has been held annually since its launch in 2013. This year's session was held in person for the first time since 2022, timed to coincide with the promulgation and enforcement of revisions to the espionage provisions of the Criminal Act — the first such revision in 73 years.

Chaired by NIS Director Lee Jong-seok, the meeting brought together vice minister-level officials from 22 counterintelligence-related agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and military and police authorities. Participants deliberated and adopted measures to expand the national counterintelligence framework in line with the new espionage law, enhance collaboration on homeland security, and strengthen research security to protect the country's research and development competitiveness.

Specifically, the agencies agreed to pool their response capabilities and further tighten their cooperative framework to actively counter not only the theft of diplomatic and defense secrets by foreign actors but also the leakage of advanced and defense industry technologies — areas the revised espionage law now more directly addresses.

The meeting also designated the strengthened management of land in strategically sensitive areas — including remote outlying islands — and the protection of national R&D outputs as priority tasks tied to national security and future competitiveness. Participants discussed how to divide responsibilities according to each agency's distinct functions and authority, and explored ways to expand collaboration.

Director Lee expressed gratitude to the agencies that helped bring about the long-sought revision to the Criminal Act's espionage provisions, saying, "Let us tear down the walls between agencies and work ever more closely together to counter foreign acts that undermine our security and national interests — acts that will only grow more covert and sophisticated."

Meanwhile, according to materials submitted to People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Thursday, the government said it supports legislation that would abolish the legal basis allowing authorities to selectively reject applications filed by South Korean citizens seeking to contact North Korean residents. The NIS had initially opposed the move, according to sources familiar with the matter.