The Defense Counterintelligence Command (DCC; Korean: 국군방첩사령부) is an intelligence organization of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. It was founded as the Army Counter Intelligence Corps (commonly known as CIC or KACIC;[5][6] meaning: Special Operation Forces) on 21 October 1950.[1][2] The DCC is primarily responsible for intelligence missions such as clandestine and covert operation, counterintelligence, defense industry security, forensic investigations, HUMINT, and military security[7][8][9]
The unit was reorganized into the Defense Counterintelligence Command on 1 November 2022.[1][2]
History
The Defense Counterintelligence Command was formally activated in October 1977 under the name Military Security Command (MSC; 국군보안사령부; 國軍保安司令部).[1][2] This merger of the Army Security Command, the Navy Security Unit, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations produced a single, integrated unit under the direct command and operational control of the minister of national defense.[1][2]
Chun Doo-hwan became chief of the Defense Security Command (DSC; 국군기무사령부; 國軍機務司令部) in February 1979, eight months before Park Chung Hee was assassinated on October 26, 1979. From his position as commander of the DSC, Chun effectively became chief investigator of the assassination, said Don Oberdorfer in his book The Two Koreas.[10] On December 12, 1979, a group of generals led by Chun arrested martial law commander General Jeong Seung-hwa, the army chief of staff, and seized key sites in the capital.[11]
The DSC's involvement in 1979 was considered and defined as attempt of a coup by state council.
Criticism
During the Gwangju Uprising, many Plainclothed DSC operatives disguised themselves as protesters to conducted Covert operations against Civilian Militia.[12] Their main objective was arrest and detain militia members illegally and fabricating lies and calumnies about militia to ruin the militia's reputation and make the uprising look like North Korean operatives involved.[13]
On November 11, 2011, the Seoul National Labor Relations Commission exposed a Defense Security Command member who had been illegally collecting the information of civilians registered in the National Health Insurance Corporation for three and a half years.[14]
Before the Impeachment of Park Geun-hye on March 2017, DSC was planning a Self-coup and declaration of martial law in case of impeachment of Park Geun-hye failed and anticipation of prolonged protests in response. DSC's self-coup plan document was revealed to the public in 2018.[15][16]
^기무사, 朴 탄핵 후 모든 상황 적용 가능한 계엄계획 세웠다 [Defense Security Command made a Martial Law Plan to put it on every occasion after the Park's Impeachment]. Segye Ilbo (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2024-12-07. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
