국가정보기관권력의 현황과 정치적 중립화를 위한 과제

The Korean National Intelligence Service(“NIS”) has involved itself in a variety of domestic affairs. Although NIS’s mission is to protect national security, its activities must still be within the boundaries of the ‘Rule of Law.’ Unless complying with the ‘Rule of Law,’ NIS’s activities could not possibly keep its political neutrality. NIS’s privileged power over authorities of other government branches and the citizens of the nation may lead to produce an unbalanced political power of the administration. Since its establishment, NIS in Korea has stressed the importance of intelligence in national security: however, NIS has abused its power by the name of national security and ended up facing many human right’s violation claims. What drove NIS to easily misuse its privileged power, which was originally designed for the protection of national security? This article is composed of two parts. The first part analyzes reasons why NIS misused its power through historical review of its activities. The second part presents the categorized model designed by the author to bar NIS from misusing its power, and the recent legislative proposal on the issue made by Congressmen in Korea. Additionally, this article introduced a few U.S. and European laws that were designed to control the executive power in the national intelligence area.