'Black Agent Leak' Intelligence Service Civilian Employee Charged with Espionage

Counterintelligence Officer A Sent to Prosecution in Custody

A civilian employee A of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces Intelligence Command, accused of leaking military secrets including personal information of military intelligence agents, has been handed over to the prosecution.

On the 8th, the Defense Counterintelligence Command, which investigated the case, announced that A was sent to the prosecution in custody. The Counterintelligence Command applied charges against A for violating the Military Secrets Protection Act as well as general treason and espionage under the Military Criminal Act. The espionage charge is only applied to those who leak secrets to North Korea. Applying the espionage charge means that a connection with North Korea has been detected.

It is known that a large amount of confidential information from the internal network was leaked from A’s personal laptop. A is a former active-duty soldier currently working as a civilian employee at the Intelligence Command. The leaked information amounts to up to several thousand cases and reportedly includes information on ‘white agents’ who operate under diplomatic status, as well as ‘black agents’ who disguise their identity as having no relation to the Korean government agencies overseas.

The Intelligence Command has withdrawn many overseas agents who are on the front lines of intelligence activities against North Korea and abroad. In particular, the seriousness of the matter is increasing as circumstances indicating that the leaked information was directed toward North Korea have been detected. Our military has been known to have a relative advantage in ‘human intelligence’ (HUMINT) compared to the United States. There is abundant intelligence assets such as businessmen in the North Korea-China border area, ethnic Koreans in China (Joseonjok), and Chinese nationals with North Korean permanent residency.