South Korean defense intelligence agent sold secrets to China: military

A South Korean military intelligence agent is accused of turning over secrets to Chinese agents for about seven years in exchange for money, according to South Korea’s military prosecution service Wednesday.

The military prosecutors said the agent with the Korea Defense Intelligence Command had been indicted Tuesday for leaking secrets to Chinese intelligence agents that he had first come into contact with in 2017.

For over seven years, he appears to have received over 10 million won ($7,471) from the Chinese agents in return for the confidential information he handed over, according to the prosecutors.

The prosecutors said he used silent features to take photographs and screenshots without shutter noises to record confidential information. To dodge screening, he created multiple accounts that each had different passwords and used voice chats rather than text messages on Chinese messaging applications like WeChat to communicate.

The prosecutors also found the agent to have asked Chinese agents to pay him more before he sent more secrets.

The military prosecutors said as the secrets are believed to have leaked to China, not North Korea, they were unable to press espionage charges against the agent. Under current laws in South Korea, espionage activities perpetrated by countries other than North Korea cannot be punished.

The agent was instead charged with bribery and other laws on protecting military secrets, the prosecutors said.

The first allegations of the leak by the agent surfaced last month, when he was accused of having exposed military agents gathering intelligence on North Korea.

Following the leak scandal, bipartisan lawmakers proposed bills on revising espionage laws to be able to punish espionage activities by foreign entities other than North Korea.