South Korean spy agency opens its doors, but stays mum on controversies
Foreign journalists get to see inside South Korea's intelligence centre, but officials refuse to discuss anything controversial or take questions
South Korea's spy agency allowed a chink of daylight into its shadowy world yesterday as it threw open its doors to foreign media.
But its officials were in no mood to shine a light on some of the scandals that have cast a pall over the service in recent years.
Located down a side road amid wooded hills a few miles south of Seoul, the plain concrete buildings of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) are not signposted, and it is cloaked from view by rows of vinyl-covered greenhouses - a common sight in South Korea's countryside.
Security is surprisingly easy to negotiate, even compared to other government agencies, though once inside, stern-faced, suited men with microphones in their ears provide a watchful presence. Smartphones and cameras are not permitted.
Banners reading "For the Freedom; For the Nation; For the People," hang from the ceiling; a poster depicts an attractive woman toting a huge handgun and journalists are invited to fire revolvers at the agency's in-house shooting range.
This being modern South Korea, the lobby of the headquarters features a cheery coffee shop, and NIS activities extend to publishing investment guides to Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.
