South Korean Spy Agency KCIA Raided By Prosecutors SEOUL: Prosecutors have raided the headquarters of the National Intelligence Service of South Korea to investigate accusations that the spy agency used its agents and hired internet bloggers to influence the presidential election in December. The raid, which started on Tuesday morning and continued into the evening, was highly unusual, dealing a blow to the controversial reputation of the spy agency. Such a raid would have been unthinkable decades ago when the agency, known as the KCIA, served as the main tool of political control for South Korea's military dictators. Even after South Korea was democratised in the early 1990s, prosecutors raided the secretive agency only once - in 2005, when it was revealed that it illegally ran an extensive operation of bugging the telephones of politicians, businessmen, journalists and others. Although the intelligence agency has repeatedly vowed not to meddle in politics, accusations of wrongdoing by its agents resurfaced during the campaign for the December 19 presidential election. The main opposition, the Democratic United Party, and government critics accused the agency of trying to influence online debates in favour of President Park Geun-hye, who was the governing party's candidate at the time. Ms Park beat her opposition rival, Moon Jae-in, by 1 million votes. In April, the police said at least two agents from the National Intelligence Service illegally posted comments online criticising the political opposition before the election. But they said they could not determine whether the two were part of a much bigger operation by the leadership of the agency to influence the election, as the opposition party claimed. A chief police investigator who had been replaced in the middle of the investigation later claimed in media interviews that her bosses had intervened in an effort to whitewash the inquiry. The National Police Agency denied the accusation. Prosecutors have since taken over the politically delicate investigation. They faced a long-running accusation from the political opposition and other critics that they shied away from offending the top political power. Because of that mistrust, the political parties have agreed to begin a separate parliamentary investigation. On Tuesday, prosecutors raided the psychological intelligence bureau in the spy agency's sprawling compound in Seoul. Their action came one day after prosecutors summoned former intelligence service director Won Sei-hoon, a close ally of former president Lee Myung-bak, for questioning. Two other senior intelligence officials were questioned in the past few days. The spy agency had no comment on the raid. But it had earlier denied interfering in the election. The agency said its officers' online activities had been part of its normal psychological operations aimed at North Korea. During her election campaign, Ms Park and her aides had vehemently accused Mr Moon and his opposition party of a political offensive when they first made accusations of illegal campaign activities by intelligence agents. Ms Park's office has said it will not comment on the investigation while it is under way. Many of the intelligence chiefs in South Korea have ended their careers in disgrace. One fled to the US after he was estranged from his boss, Park Chung-hee, Ms Park's father, who was president at the time. The intelligence officer was last seen at a Paris nightclub in 1979. His fate has remained a mystery. Later that year, a subsequent spymaster assassinated Park Chung-hee. The man, Kim Jae-kyu, was later executed. In more recent decades, several intelligence chiefs were imprisoned for corruption and other crimes after they left office.