"Since Defense Minister Song Young-moo took office, we have been preparing reform measures for the ministry's Cyber Command and the Defense Security Command," the source said on condition of anonymity.

"They will likely include measures aimed at preventing them from causing any political misunderstandings or collecting information that can be seen as excessive surveillance," he added.

The Cyber Command, which is in charge of protecting the military from hacking attempts, caused controversy in 2012 when its personnel reportedly posted political comments on the Internet during the elections.

The DSC, an anti-espionage body, has been criticized for excessive surveillance of individual soldiers.

Song has voiced his strong desire to reform the two units since taking office on July 14.

In particular, he has made comments "several times" about the need to address the surveillance problem of the DSC, a separate source said.

With the order from the minister, the defense ministry is said to have launched a reform drive in a way that will prevent the DSC's surveillance of individual soldiers. (Yonhap)