Military intelligence official gets 20 years for passing undercover agent info to China

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Military intelligence official gets 20 years for passing undercover agent info to China

The Ministry of National Defense [YONHAP]

The Ministry of National Defense [YONHAP]

A military intelligence official was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday on charges of handing over information of South Korean military undercover agents operating overseas, in return for bribes.
 
The 45-year-old civilian employee at the Korea Defense Intelligence Command was indicted in August last year on allegations of leaking the personal information of so-called "black agents" to a suspected Chinese agent, whose identity has not been verified.
 
A court martial sentenced the official to a 20-year prison term and a 1.2 billion-won ($833,391) fine, in addition to a forfeit of 162 million won, which the official received in return for handing over the classified information.
 
"The leaked military secrets included the personal information of dispatched intelligence officials, thus causing a clear threat to the life and personal liberty of the agents, and incurring losses as the time and efforts spent to obtain intelligence are no longer available for use," the court martial said in a sentencing hearing.
 
The court martial dismissed the official's claim that he was forced to commit the crime due to threats made against his family members, citing a lack of evidence.
 
The official is believed to have come into contact with the suspected Chinese agent when he was arrested at a Chinese airport in 2017 and leaked information in 30 cases, in the form of documents and voice messages, according to military prosecutors.
 
Prosecutors concluded that the official had actively engaged in leaking the information, requesting financial rewards of around 400 million won in total on 40 occasions.
 
Yonhap
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