President Park Geun-hye is expected to press for a major reform of the nation’s top intelligence agency following appointments of new deputy directors to be made this week.

Overhauling the National Intelligence Service by focusing on enhancing its security-related intelligence operations and maintaining political neutrality has been a top item on Park’s agenda since her election last year, according to sources from Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling Saenuri Party.

Park named former four-star general Nam Jae-joon as NIS chief last month, seemingly determined to buttress the agency’s defense-related areas by bolstering intelligence-gathering capabilities related to North Korea and other countries.

Calls have also been growing for the spy agency to cut off from political interest by lessoning its focus on domestic affairs and networking upon last year’s controversy over the NIS’ alleged interference with the presidential election.

This means the NIS’ previous concentrations on gathering information through such government organizations as the National Assembly and ministries would be downsized significantly.

As a young democratic country constantly confronted by the communist North, ideological gaps have continued to play a significant role in conservative-progressive political dynamics, often resulting in alleged involvement of such government organizations as the NIS.

“It is the view of President Park that in times of an escalating security situation over North Korea’s nuclear problem, the intelligence on North Korea that directly relates to national security must be bolstered,” a source said, wishing to remain unidentified.

Pundits pointed out that what is more important than a structural reform would be a change in the organization’s culture.

“There are already regulations and laws that prohibit the (NIS) from stepping beyond political neutrality. So rather than the organization, it is the problem of internal culture, where the organization’s operation hinges greatly on the stance of its chief,” said public administration professor Lee Jong-youl of the University of Incheon.

“It could, for instance, be an option to prepare measures against members engaging in what I call ‘intelligence bribery’ to prevent the vicious circle,” he suggested.

The NIS has been receiving heat since the presidential election last year over allegations that one of its employees manipulated Internet comments in an attempt to sway public opinions against certain presidential candidates. The former NIS director Won Se-hoon was most recently banned from leaving the country for the related investigation.

During a confirmation hearing last month, Nam had expressed his intentional to stave off politics by telling lawmakers, “As we will put our lives on maintaining (political) neutrality, I ask of your help for us to be able to maintain neutrality.”

So far, of the three deputy directors at the agency, the first and third are in charge of overseas and North Korea, respectively, while the second deputy director has been in charge of domestic affairs.

Their roles are hence expected to undergo vast changes, with some observers suggesting external figures may be named to the post as a “wake-up call” to the organization.

Park is also likely to envision a “more transparent” operation of the spy agency in terms of domestic affairs, in line with her pledge during the presidential campaign to “open a new generation of the government” that shares accessible information held by public organizations except for confidential information related to national security.

Park is also reportedly interested in gathering information on economic and industry situations of other countries as part of her push to enhance South Korea’s competitiveness in the global market.

Nam, meanwhile, reaffirmed his priority would be on deterrence against any attacks or provocations by North Korea.

“Our country at present is at a cease-fire status. … In the time of consistent attempts by the North of psychological warfare, it is most important right now to unite the people’s will and prevent any infiltration of (the North’s) tactics and strategy,” Nam said at a hearing.

Criticisms toward the NIS’ intelligence capacity had surged over its repeated failures to detect major developments in the North, namely the death of Kim Jong-il in 2011, which was revealed only days later through an announcement by Pyongyang.

Efforts taken to enhance the agency’s capability have included strengthening the activities of “humint,” or human intelligence.

Reports said Nam set up a task force immediately upon his appointment to work on reforming the organization.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)