South Korea to Disband Defense Counterintelligence Command, Citing Its Role in 2024 Martial Law Bid

South Korea's Defense Counterintelligence Command will be dismantled over its alleged role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration on Dec. 3, 2024, Yonhap reported. The command, established in 1977, will be disbanded 49 years after its creation.

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back announced the reform plan at the defense ministry headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul, on June 10, 2026. A new Defense Counterintelligence Headquarters will be established under the defense ministry to handle anti-espionage, defense industry intelligence, counterterrorism and cybersecurity functions.

Background checks on people of interest, gathering personnel intel and other personnel vetting will be completely abolished.

A new body tentatively named the Agency for Defense Security Support will be created to conduct security inspections and investigate related breaches or incidents at corps-level units and larger formations. The authority to conduct national security-related investigations, including joint probes in the event of martial law, will be transferred to the ministry's existing investigation headquarters.

About one-third of the DCC personnel is expected to be transferred back to their respective original military services.

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said the move will help enhance checks and balances and democratic control of the military's counterintelligence and other sensitive operations. "It will serve as a historic turning point in building a military that serves our people by restructuring the Armed Forces' intelligence agency to ensure that it can never again intervene in politics," Ahn said during a press briefing.

The ministry aims to complete the reorganization by the end of July or early August.

Former DCC Commander Yeo In-hyeong is detained and standing trial for allegedly deploying troops to the National Assembly and the election watchdog on the night of the martial law attempt to arrest opposition lawmakers, including then Democratic Party leader and current President Lee Jae Myung.

The command is also suspected of involvement in sending drones across the border into North Korea two months before Yoon's martial law bid. A special public-private advisory committee was formed to draw up recommendations for DCC reform.

The measures announced by Ahn on June 10, 2026, are largely in line with the committee's recommendations.