The National Intelligence Service(NIS) has reinstated the motto “Intelligence is national power,” first adopted under former President Kim Dae-jung and used through the Roh Moo-hyun administration.

The motto was unveiled during a plaque ceremony on Thursday, attended by NIS Director Lee Jong-seok and Jang Jong-han, head of Yangjihoe, an association of retired NIS officials.

The agency said the restoration reflects its renewed emphasis on the national interest and practical intelligence in line with the current “citizen-sovereign government” era.

The reinstated phrase was the agency’s first official motto upon being renamed the National Intelligence Service in 1999.

It replaces the previous slogan, “We work in the dark to serve the light,” which was used during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and originally dates back to 1961 under the agency’s earliest incarnation.