By Lee Min-hyung
The Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday the military will have a new security command on Sept. 1 after the scandal-tainted Defense Security Command (DCS) is disbanded.
The ministry will send hundreds of DSC personnel, who were involved in a series of its recent political interference activities, back to their former branches no later than the end of this week, according to the ministry Wednesday.
"We are going to have 200 to 300 DSC personnel returned to their former branches of the military," a military official said.
The officers are suspected of engaging in a series of political activities. They include the DSC's plot to overturn the nation by writing a 67-page-long military document.
Ever since a joint military-civil investigation team was formed, a total of 28 ranking DSC officers ― including former DSC general So Gang-won ― have been sent back to their former branches.
Other officers include those suspected of participating in the DSC's special taskforce to handle the aftermath of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster which left more than 300 people dead.
The 60-member taskforce reportedly engaged in politically inappropriate activities by running the team for half a year since the incident in April 2014. The team has recently come under strong public backlash after it was discovered that the taskforce drew a document specifying plans to prevent bereaved families of the accident from demanding compensation against the government.
But with President Moon Jae-in expressing anger about the latest in a series of the DSC's political interference surrounding the military plot to quell civilians by force last year, the scandal-hit military intelligence unit has finally been put on track to be disbanded.
The new intelligence unit, the Defense Security Support Command, is expected to come with a reduced workforce of 2,900 from the 4,200 of the DSC.
A preparatory team for the new security command is focusing on limiting the authority of the intelligence unit. This is in line with the order from the President who called for the need to "drastically reorganize" the organization to not repeat a similar fiasco.
For the new organization, the defense ministry also plans to reduce the number of general officers to three or four from the nine of the DSC.
The Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday the military will have a new security command on Sept. 1 after the scandal-tainted Defense Security Command (DCS) is disbanded.
The ministry will send hundreds of DSC personnel, who were involved in a series of its recent political interference activities, back to their former branches no later than the end of this week, according to the ministry Wednesday.
"We are going to have 200 to 300 DSC personnel returned to their former branches of the military," a military official said.
The officers are suspected of engaging in a series of political activities. They include the DSC's plot to overturn the nation by writing a 67-page-long military document.
Ever since a joint military-civil investigation team was formed, a total of 28 ranking DSC officers ― including former DSC general So Gang-won ― have been sent back to their former branches.
Other officers include those suspected of participating in the DSC's special taskforce to handle the aftermath of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster which left more than 300 people dead.
The 60-member taskforce reportedly engaged in politically inappropriate activities by running the team for half a year since the incident in April 2014. The team has recently come under strong public backlash after it was discovered that the taskforce drew a document specifying plans to prevent bereaved families of the accident from demanding compensation against the government.
But with President Moon Jae-in expressing anger about the latest in a series of the DSC's political interference surrounding the military plot to quell civilians by force last year, the scandal-hit military intelligence unit has finally been put on track to be disbanded.
The new intelligence unit, the Defense Security Support Command, is expected to come with a reduced workforce of 2,900 from the 4,200 of the DSC.
A preparatory team for the new security command is focusing on limiting the authority of the intelligence unit. This is in line with the order from the President who called for the need to "drastically reorganize" the organization to not repeat a similar fiasco.
For the new organization, the defense ministry also plans to reduce the number of general officers to three or four from the nine of the DSC.
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