On Tuesday (July 30), the South Korean Ministry of National Defense announced that the Central Military Court issued an arrest warrant for a public official, referred to as A, affiliated with the Military Intelligence Command, who is suspected of leaking military secrets such as the identities of intelligence personnel.
According to reports from the South Korean news agency Yonhap, a military insider revealed that A, who is part of South Korea’s overseas intelligence department, is suspected of leaking multiple sensitive pieces of information, including the identities and personal details of intelligence personnel, to a Chinese individual. The Military Prosecution Service requested the court to arrest A on charges of divulging military secrets. It is worth noting that the military investigative department believes that the Chinese individual who obtained the information may be an intelligence officer from the North Korean Reconnaissance Bureau.
The Military Intelligence Command discovered about a month ago that the identities of intelligence operatives had been leaked. Subsequently, the leakage of information was confirmed by the Counterintelligence Command to involve intelligence personnel engaged in North Korean intelligence operations. Following an investigation, it was found that data from the Military Intelligence Command’s computers had been transferred to A’s personal laptop and then leaked. A claimed that their laptop had been hacked. The military has initiated an investigation into these claims.
Due to the leakage of intelligence personnel information, some individuals deployed overseas for assignments have been called back to South Korea. Considering that exposed intelligence operatives may no longer be deployable, the South Korean intelligence system is facing a considerable loss.