More info needed to analyze change over N.K. intelligence agency: Seoul

South Korea said Tuesday that more information is needed to analyze whether control of North Korea's intelligence agency has changed following the latest overhaul of its cabinet organization.

The Ministry of State Security, Pyongyang's intelligence agency, was previously placed under the control of the powerful National Defense Commission before the country's parliament replaced the NDC with a newly created state apparatus named the State Affairs Commission in late June.

The NDC previously had three ministries--the Ministry of People's Armed Forces, the North's defense ministry, and the Ministry of People's Security, the North's police agency--under its wing.

But as North Korea's state media called the two ministries by different official names, speculation is growing that the official name of the ministry on state security might have been altered.

An official at Seoul's unification ministry said the ministry on state security may have seen its name changed, but more information is required to analyze whether the ministry was overhauled as a cabinet organ or if it remains under the SAC's control under a new name.

"More intelligence is needed, but the North's ministry may have seen its name changed," the official said. "But as the ministry's role appears intact, what it is called seems to carry no meaning."

The Ministry of State Security, North Korea's spy agency, has more powerful authority as it screens reactionary elements in society, supervises political prisoners' camps and arrests those who attempt to flee the country.

The NDC mainly focused on defense and security-related affairs, but the role of the new commission was expanded to other sectors, including diplomacy and the economy as a key decision-making body, according to Seoul's unification ministry.

The NDC served as a powerful organization under the regime of Kim Jong-il, who advocated a military first, or "songun," policy.

He is the late father of the North's current leader Kim Jong-un.

Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute, said that North Korea may have placed its defense and police ministries under the Cabinet's control with different names.

"But I don't think that the Ministry of State Security was moved to a Cabinet organ, given its role of handling intelligence and espionage operations," he said. "But there is a chance that the ministry's official name could have been changed."

But Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Seoul's Dongguk University, said that North Korea's intelligence agency seems to be under the SAC with its name intact. (Yonhap)