S. Korea asked to verify 'spy break-in' of Indonesian envoys' hotel room

Indonesia has officially asked for verification of reports that South Korean intelligence officers broke into a visiting delegation's hotel room last week to steal classified information on planned arms trade between the two countries, Seoul's foreign ministry said Monday.

"Indonesia asked us to verify the exact facts," the ministry's spokesman, Cho Byung-jae, said during a regular press briefing. "We are verifying the facts, and we agreed to inform them as soon as we are done."

Indonesia's envoy to Seoul, Nicholas Tandi Dammen, visited the foreign ministry on Monday morning to seek cooperation from Park Hae-yun, who is in charge of South Asian and Pacific affairs, the spokesman added.

The request came after a local daily reported on the same day that a trio who broke into a suite room of the Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul on Wednesday were members of the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

The intruders -- two men and one woman, all presumed to be Asian -- were believed to have illegally entered the hotel room in an attempt to steal classified information on Indonesia's planned arms trade with South Korea, according to local police.

The intruders apparently fled immediately after a member of the delegation abruptly entered the room and saw them copying files from a laptop computer onto a USB memory stick.

The 50-member delegation of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono arrived in Seoul on Tuesday for a three-day visit, which included a courtesy call to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and discussions on expanding bilateral economic and military cooperation, including South Korea's plan to sell the T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic trainer jet.

The delegation returned home on Thursday.

 An NIS official, who wished not to be identified in the media, said his organization "strongly" denies the report, saying, "(We) have not done such a thing."

"The report is not true," the official said. (Yonhap News)