South Korea arrests official over alleged data leak exposing spies, reports
By Hyunsu Yim
SEOUL, July 31 (Reuters) -A South Korean court has issued an arrest warrant for an official at the country's military intelligence command for allegedly leaking classified data identifying agents working overseas, according to the defence ministry and media reports.
The defence ministry confirmed in a text message sent to reporters on Tuesday that a military court had issued an arrest warrant for an official at the agency, though declined further comment as an investigation was ongoing.
Media reports said the suspect, who works at the Korea Defense Intelligence Command (KDIC), was accused of leaking personal information on agents to a Chinese individual of Korean descent. The official was not identified and it was not immediately clear if they had been taken into custody.
The leaked data stored on computers at KDIC was transferred to the official's personal laptop, before it was leaked, the Yonhap news agency reported, without citing sources.
The information included a list of so-called "black agents", a term used in South Korea for non-official spies performing undercover espionage overseas, as opposed to "white agents" with official titles, Yonhap said.
The official had denied leaking and said that the laptop had been hacked, the news agency said. Yonhap said authorities were concerned the data might have been given to North Korea.
Lawmakers briefed by military intelligence officials said the leak was not a result of a hack and was first discovered in June.
"Overseas staff were immediately ordered to be recalled," lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun who sits on the intelligence committee told reporters on Tuesday.
Authorities were looking into potential violations of military criminal law as well as the National Security Act and treason, lawmakers said.
The intelligence committee was very concerned over damage to the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the country's spy agency, lawmaker Park Sun-won said, noting the case comes after the arrest in the U.S. of a former White House official accused of being a South Korean agent.
Sue Mi Terry, who advocated South Korean policy positions and once worked for the CIA and on the White House National Security Council (NSC), has been indicted on charges that she worked as an unregistered agent of South Korea's government in exchange for luxury goods and other gifts. Her lawyer has said his client denies the charges.
Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Ed Davies
Dernières actualités
Avertissement : Les entités de XM Group proposent à notre plateforme de trading en ligne un service d'exécution uniquement, autorisant une personne à consulter et/ou à utiliser le contenu disponible sur ou via le site internet, qui n'a pas pour but de modifier ou d'élargir cette situation. De tels accès et utilisation sont toujours soumis aux : (i) Conditions générales ; (ii) Avertissements sur les risques et (iii) Avertissement complet. Un tel contenu n'est par conséquent fourni que pour information générale. En particulier, sachez que les contenus de notre plateforme de trading en ligne ne sont ni une sollicitation ni une offre de participation à toute transaction sur les marchés financiers. Le trading sur les marchés financiers implique un niveau significatif de risques pour votre capital.
Tout le matériel publié dans notre Centre de trading en ligne est destiné à des fins de formation / d'information uniquement et ne contient pas – et ne doit pas être considéré comme contenant – des conseils et recommandations en matière de finance, de fiscalité des investissements ou de trading, ou un enregistrement de nos prix de trading ou une offre, une sollicitation, une transaction à propos de tout instrument financier ou bien des promotions financières non sollicitées à votre égard.
Tout contenu tiers, de même que le contenu préparé par XM, tels que les opinions, actualités, études, analyses, prix, autres informations ou liens vers des sites tiers contenus sur ce site internet sont fournis "tels quels", comme commentaires généraux sur le marché et ne constituent pas des conseils en investissement. Dans la mesure où tout contenu est considéré comme de la recherche en investissement, vous devez noter et accepter que le contenu n'a pas été conçu ni préparé conformément aux exigences légales visant à promouvoir l'indépendance de la recherche en investissement et, en tant que tel, il serait considéré comme une communication marketing selon les lois et réglementations applicables. Veuillez vous assurer que vous avez lu et compris notre Avis sur la recherche en investissement non indépendante et notre avertissement sur les risques concernant les informations susdites, qui peuvent consultés ici.
