Based on a true story, The Man Standing Next depicts the turbulent 40-day period leading up to the assassination of South Korea’s ex-president Park Chung-hee on October 26, 1979, by his intelligence chief at the height of pro-democracy protests. Lee played the role of intelligence head Kim Kyu-pyeong in the movie. As it is such...
Tag: NIS
Post
Post
Denuclearization: Role of South Korea’s NIS
(From Top World Intelligence Agencies) The NIS has played an important role in assessing the state of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and supporting President Moon Jae-in’s campaign to coax North Korea and the United States to reach an agreement to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and end the Korean war. The agency has also been embroiled in...
Post
Trump and Moon, Odd Couple, Seek to Save Denuclearization Talks
Despite what Washington hawks wish for, the Korea nuclear talks are not dead. The idea of a deal to end the Korean war, de-escalate the military confrontation between North and South, and denuclearize the Korean peninsula is opposed by John Bolton and, oddly, by many Washington Democrats. Still, South Korean President Moon Jae-in seeks to...
Post
After CIA Visit, South Korea’s Intel Chief Expects Another Summit
President Trump’s “fire and fury” rhetoric no longer drives the news cycle. Nor does the pomp and circumstance of his Singapore summit with North Kore’s Kim Jong Un. The most recent denuclearization talks between the United States, North Korea, and South Korea were cancelled earlier this month. All the while, the U.S. and South Korean intelligence...
Post
South Korea’s NIS Shoots Down NY Times Story of North Korean ‘Deception’
The week’s hot news on Korea denuclearization was an allegation of a “great deception” by North Korea. The New York Times, relying on report from the hawkish Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, suggested that Kim Jong Un was secretly “moving ahead with its ballistic missile program at 16 hidden bases.” The news sounded dire:...