President Lee Jae Myung paid his first visit to the National Intelligence Service since taking office on Friday, during which he urged the agency to reflect on its past abuses and strengthen its service to the state and the public.

According to presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung, Lee received a report from NIS Director Lee Jong-seok outlining key achievements from the administration’s first five months and the agency’s future development plans.

The president called the NIS a powerful institution capable of delivering significant results when operating correctly, praising it for correcting past wrongdoing through special audits, for its work in high-profile cases, including the capture of a suspect in the murder of a student in Cambodia and for its contributions to combating scam networks.

Lee also emphasized the need for tougher action against domestic drug organizations and said that, with statutes of limitations for state-violence crimes soon to be permanently removed through legislation, the agency must approach its duties with an even greater sense of responsibility.

The NIS, in turn, acknowledged its troubled history—noting that eight of its past 16 directors were imprisoned on charges ranging from illegal surveillance to political manipulation—and said it is working to address past harms, including issuing apologies to blacklist victims and individuals wrongly accused in the so-called spy-ring case.

Following the briefing, Lee met with the agency's staff over lunch and became the first sitting president to tour its National Space Security Center.