Convicted Spy Asks For Reduced Term

A Korean company disclosed Thursday a petition filed with the U. S. Department of Justice by Robert Kim, a Korean-American scientist who has been jailed in the United States for four and a half years on spying charges. The petition filed in March asked for a reduction of his jail term.

Sunwoo, a matchmaking company which has been advocating Mr. Kim's release since 1998, put the petition on its Web site. Officials said Mr. Kim asked the company to let the Korean people know the truth about him.

In the petition, Mr. Kim said the information he shared with South Korean diplomats in Washington was nothing extraordinary and that it had already been made public.

"While I'm deeply sorry about the incident," Mr. Kim said, "I don't think a nine-year sentence is justified."

He also said he sold his house to pay for medical treatment of his 87-year-old father, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease shortly after his son was sent to prison. He said his wife, who has orthopedic problems, works as a janitor at a local church.

While working as a computer analyst at the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1996, Mr. Kim was arrested and charged with passing on classified documents and information regarding the infiltration of a North Korean submarine into South Korea to a South Korean naval attache in Washington.

A federal court sentenced him in 1997 to nine years in prison and three years of surveillance. Mr. Kim is serving his jail term at a prison in Pennsylvania.

by Son Min-ho