'777' Intelligence Budget Cut in Half... Disruptions in Intel Sharing with US?

[Anchor]

This year's intelligence activity budget for the 777 Command, which collects special intelligence on North Korea, has been cut in half. The intelligence activity budgets for the Defense Intelligence Command and the Defense Counterintelligence Command were also found to have been sharply reduced. These budget cuts appear not unrelated to recent remarks by the United States urging South Korea to "comply with the standards of the South Korea-U.S. alliance," pointing specifically to the intelligence and counterintelligence sectors.

Defense reporter Kim Tae-hoon reports.

[Reporter]

The 777 Command, an eavesdropping unit targeting North Korea under the Defense Intelligence Agency, faced allegations of supporting the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's Pyongyang drone infiltration incident by utilizing special intelligence, or SI, obtained through communications wiretapping and signals analysis.

[Park Sun-won / Democratic Party Lawmaker (Parliamentary audit on October 13 of last year): "In a situation of inducing foreign aggression and rattling the enemy, did you report the results of how North Korea reacted, or did you not? You did, didn't you?"]

[Park Jong-seon / Then-Commander of 777 Command (Parliamentary audit on October 13 of last year): "Committee member, I cannot discuss the specific details of special intelligence here...."]

In the aftermath of the drone operation into North Korea and martial law, the 777 Command's intelligence and security budget was found to have been cut nearly in half, plunging from 36.9 billion won last year to 19.2 billion won this year.

This budget level leaves upgrading equipment out of the question and forces significant reductions in personnel and intelligence activities.

A key military official stated, "I understand that instructions specifying where in North Korea to intercept communications are rarely even being issued to the 777 Command," adding, "The amount of SI acquired by the 777 Command has decreased significantly."

As the SI gathered by the 777 Command—one of the types of South Korean intelligence most favored by the United States—has plummeted, setbacks in intelligence sharing with the U.S. have become inevitable.

For the Defense Intelligence Command, whose main force consists of so-called "black agents" collecting intelligence on North Korea, and the Defense Counterintelligence Command, tasked with preventing Chinese nationals from spying on U.S. military bases in South Korea, this year's intelligence and security budgets were cut by 2 billion won and 1.3 billion won, respectively, allocating 34.4 billion won and 19 billion won.

Meanwhile, the Navy and the Air Force had their intelligence and security budgets increased by 12.8 billion won and 12 billion won, respectively, to strengthen their roles. However, doubts remain over whether they can match the capabilities of traditional intelligence and counterintelligence units such as the 777 Command, the Defense Intelligence Command, and the Defense Counterintelligence Command.

(Video by Kim Hyun-sang | Video editing by Jeong Seong-hoon | Design by Lee Ga-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.