South Korean police probe NIS budget support for National Security Office

South Korean police have conducted two searches and seizures of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) this year as part of an investigation into allegations that the NIS illegally provided budget support to the National Security Office (NSO) during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

The investigation, led by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s anti-corruption unit, follows a complaint filed by lawmaker Park Sun-won. The allegations suggest that the NIS used its funds to cover expenses that the NSO should have paid for itself, including meals and meeting costs for officials, journalists, and business leaders. According to lawmaker Yoon Gun-young, the NIS executed approximately 170 million won across 50 instances under a ‘Korea Influence Project’ plan, but many of these expenditures allegedly involved domestic contacts rather than the intended foreign engagement.

Lawmaker Yoon Gun-young has criticized the pace of the investigation, noting that while approximately 20 current and former NIS employees have been questioned, key figures such as former NSO First Deputy Director Kim Tae-hyo and former NIS Director Kim Kyu-hyun have not yet been interrogated. Yoon stated that the NIS's own internal review concluded the project was operated contrary to its original intent with minimal results.