National Intelligence Service changes its motto again

The current system of the White House first began to form during the rule of Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s. Until the era of President Woodrow Wilson, presidential staff took on the roles of secretary or typewriter. When Roosevelt was faced with concerns on his organizational reforms of White House agencies, dividing and expanding into areas of specialty, including the launch of the CIA, he defended them by saying the famous phrase of “passion for anonymity.”

Many Koreans think this phrase is the official motto of the CIA, but that is not true. It was used across all departments and institutions assisting the president of the United States. Inspired by this spirit, Kim Jong-pil, the initial chief as well as the founder of Korea's intelligence agency in 1961, made the first motto as: “We work in the shadows to protect the sunlit land.”

During the Kim Dae-jung administration in 1999, a new catchphrase was created: “Intelligence is a nation's power," which was as simple and straightforward as the CIA’s of “The Work of a Nation. The Center of Intelligence.” In 2008, President Lee Myung-bak changed it to “Anonymous dedication to freedom and truth,” which sounds like a scrambled version of the CIA’s unofficial slogan of “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32).”

The Park Geun-hye administration changed the slogan once again to “Solemn devotion solely to the protection and honor of our nation.” The previous one seemed inappropriate for an official motto for a national intelligence bureau since it was excessively academic as well as religious. “Solemn devotion” is a modernized version of “passion for anonymity,” and sounds better than “anonymous dedication.” However, “the protection and honor of our nation” sounds a little unnecessary. It implies that the agency should serve for the nation, not for the government, which is unessential. Changing a motto would do nothing to transform the foundation of an organization. The organization itself should be reformed first in order to create a long-lasting motto like the CIA.

송평인기자 pisong@donga.com