Actor Hyun Bin named honorary agent by Korea’s spy agency

Actor Hyun Bin / Courtesy of VAST Entertainment

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) has appointed actor Hyun Bin as an honorary counterintelligence agent, the agency said Tuesday.

The appointment was made to raise public awareness of expanded espionage laws following a recent legal revision, according to the agency.

In February, the National Assembly moved to revise the Criminal Act, broadening the scope of espionage crimes from activities involving an “enemy state” to include the leaking of state secrets to “foreign countries or equivalent organizations.”

The change reflects a wider concept of counterintelligence, extending beyond North Korean espionage to include detecting and countering foreign intelligence activities that threaten national security and economic interests. The agency said the honorary appointment is intended to help communicate this shift to the public.

Hyun previously portrayed an NIS agent in the 2023 film “The Point Men,” which depicts efforts to rescue kidnapped Korean hostages overseas.

He is expected to take part in activities promoting the importance of counterintelligence efforts in cooperation with the agency.

“As incidents involving the leakage of advanced technologies and defense industry secrets to foreign entities increase, the importance of counterintelligence continues to grow,” an agency official said. “We will actively meet public expectations through thorough counterintelligence efforts.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.