Spy Scandal Rocks South Korea: Military Employee Exposed for Selling Secrets to China

A civilian employee from the Korea Defence Intelligence Command (KDIC) is under investigation for allegedly leaking sensitive information to an individual suspected of being a Chinese intelligence agent. The employee, who has not been named, is said to have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for this classified information.

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense Prosecutor’s Office announced yesterday that an individual has been arrested and charged with leaking military secrets under the “Benefitting the Enemy in General” provision of the Military Criminal Act. The case dates back to 2019 and involves an employee recruited by a suspected Chinese agent around 2017. The charges also include bribery and violations of the Military Secret Protection Act. However, espionage charges were not pursued because investigators did not find a direct connection to North Korea.

According to the prosecution, after being recruited in China, the employee exploited security weaknesses within the KDIC to consistently gather and disclose classified information. Acting on the Chinese agent’s instructions, the employee used various methods such as printing, photographing, and screen capturing to collect the data. Authorities believe the information was smuggled to a personal residence outside military facilities and then uploaded to a Chinese cloud server.

To avoid detection, the employee used multiple accounts to access the cloud, set passwords for individual files, and erased conversation records while continuing to leak information. The investigation revealed that the employee received substantial payments through intermediary accounts. Conversations between the employee and the Chinese agent also showed that the agent pressured the employee to deliver the materials quickly in exchange for additional money.

The military prosecution also identified allegations of embezzlement against the accused during the investigation and plans to conduct additional inquiries.