[Anchor]

This year's intelligence activity funds for the 777th Command, which collects special intelligence on North Korea, have been slashed in half. The intelligence activity budgets for the Defense Intelligence Command and the Defense Counterintelligence Command were also found to have been drastically reduced. These budget cuts appear to be linked to recent U.S. remarks urging compliance with "the standards of the South Korea-U.S. alliance," which singled out intelligence and counterintelligence sectors.

Senior Defense Reporter Kim Taehun reports.

[Reporter]

The 777th Command, a signals intelligence and communications interception unit under the Defense Intelligence Agency, faced allegations that it supported the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's Pyongyang drone infiltration incident by utilizing Special Intelligence (SI) obtained through communications interception and signals intelligence analysis.

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

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

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

This budget level leaves no room to even consider upgrading equipment, forcing significant reductions in personnel and intelligence activities.

A key military official stated, "I understand that even instructions directing the 777th Command on where to intercept in North Korea are rarely being issued," adding, "The volume of SI acquired by the 777th Command has dropped significantly."

With SI from the 777th Command—one of the types of South Korean intelligence most sought after by the United States—plummeting, setbacks in intelligence sharing with the U.S. have become inevitable.

This year's intelligence and security budgets were also reduced for the Defense Intelligence Command, whose core consists of so-called black undercover operatives 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. Their budgets were cut by 2 billion won and 1.3 billion won, respectively, allocating them 34.4 billion won and 19.0 billion won.

Conversely, this year's intelligence and security budgets for the Navy and Air Force were raised by 12.8 billion won and 12.0 billion won, respectively, to bolster their roles. However, doubts remain over whether they can demonstrate the capabilities of traditional intelligence and counterintelligence units such as the 777th Command, the Defense Intelligence Command, and the Defense Counterintelligence Command.

Video by Kim Hyeon-sang | Video Editing by Jeong Seong-hun | Graphics by Lee Ga-jin