Actor Hyunbin was appointed an "honorary counterintelligence agent."
The National Intelligence Service announced on the 7th the appointment of Hyunbin as an "honorary counterintelligence agent." This appointment was arranged to inform the public of the exact concept and importance of "counterintelligence," which had long been perceived narrowly as merely "detecting and arresting North Korean spies," on the occasion of the "revision of the espionage law."
The National Assembly, on Feb. 26, amended Article 98 of the Criminal Act to expand the scope of the espionage offense from "in an enemy country" to "to a foreign country," building an institutional foundation to protect Korea not only from North Korea but also from sophisticated foreign espionage activities.
Counterintelligence refers to all countermeasures to detect and check and block foreign intelligence activities that are against national security and national interests, beyond simply finding spies.
Actor Hyunbin played a "National Intelligence Service agent" who struggles to the end to rescue kidnapped Korean hostages in the 2023 film "The Negotiation," and he plans to carry out various activities in the future to widely promote the importance of the National Intelligence Service and counterintelligence activities.
A National Intelligence Service (NIS) official said, "Recently, incidents that threaten the nation's survival, such as the leakage of advanced technology and defense industry secrets to foreign countries, have occurred frequently, and the importance of counterintelligence is growing." He said, "The National Intelligence Service will, together with honorary counterintelligence agent Hyunbin, actively meet public expectations through thorough counterintelligence activities following the revision of the espionage law."
[OSEN]