The head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and two deputies stepped down from their positions on Sunday.

According to the top office, President Yoon Suk Yeol accepted the resignations tendered by Kim Kyou-hyun, chief of the spy agency and his two deputies.

The president did not immediately appoint Kim’s successor, who will be subject to a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly.

Yoon instead named Hong Jang-won, who previously served as a diplomatic minister at South Korea's Embassy in London, to be the agency's first deputy director and serve as interim NIS director.

Hwang Won-jin, who was in charge of intelligence on North Korea at the NIS, was named the second deputy director.

Yoon’s decision comes in the wake of a controversy over personnel affairs within the agency.