Intelligence Aide Sacked After Secrets Leak Out in Washington

A 40-year-old, Grade 3 officer at the National Intelligence Service who dealt with classified information in inter-Korean relations was fired recently after handing over top secrets to a foreign intelligence officer, it was confirmed Monday.

The elite officer, identified only as Ahn, has been in charge of North-South relations since the Kim Young-sam administration and reportedly played a key role in devising and implementing the current government's engagement policy toward North Korea. According to an official at the National Intelligence Service, Mr. Ahn has been contacting a foreign intelligence officer identified only as Y since last year. The contacts were made every three to four months, the official said.

This is the first time a South Korean intelligence officer has been fired for an "inappropriate contact" with a foreign intelligence officer since the intelligence agency then known as the Korean Central Intelligence Agency was founded in 1961.

There are two reports as to how the National Intelligence Service learned of Mr. Ahn's activities. The first has to do with a report in Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun in March on an agreement about a North-South peace declaration. The Yomiuri quoted a source in Washington as saying that North and South Korea had agreed to issue a peace declaration when North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pays a return visit to Seoul and that the two sides had exchanged draft declarations numerous times.

A senior official familiar with the workings of the National Intelligence Service said the report set off an alarm at the intelligence agency. The National Intelligence Service grew suspicious that a key secret of North-South relations was circulating in Washington even as the North Korean leader's visit was yet far from certain.

The National Intelligence Service eventually learned in late May and early June that Mr. Ahn met the foreign intelligence officer, Y, at a training program overseas and that they were maintaining a close friendship. The intelligence agency reportedly took photos of Mr. Ahn meeting with Y at a restaurant.

The other version says Y had already been designated long ago as a person to be watched by the South Korean government and that the government detected Mr. Ahn contacting him during the process of following Y.

The National Intelligence Service remains tight-lipped about just what classified information was passed on to the United States.

"Mr. Ahn should have reported to the agency after contacting a foreign intelligence officer, but since he violated the rule, he was fired as of July 23," the National Intelligence Service said. "We also confirmed that, while drinking, Mr. Ahn spoke about the information he gathered while on duty with Y."

Mr. Ahn was in charge of working-level preparation for last year's North-South summit as well as the reunion of the separated families. Y is a first counselor at an embassy in Seoul. He was assigned to the embassy in 1998.

by A Special Reporting Team