Supreme Court Upholds 20-Year Sentence for Defense Command Employee Who Leaked 'Black Agent List'

Fine of 1 Billion Won, Forfeiture of 162 Million Won

A staff member of the Defense Security Command who leaked military secrets, including the personal information of black agents, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, with the sentence now finalized.

Supreme Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Yonhap News Agency

According to the legal community on January 20, the Supreme Court’s Third Division (Presiding Justice Lee Heungku) upheld the lower court’s ruling, sentencing former civilian employee Cheon (age 51), who was indicted on charges of general espionage under the Military Criminal Act, to 20 years in prison, a fine of 1 billion won, and a forfeiture of 162.05 million won.

Cheon was recruited by an individual suspected to be a Chinese intelligence agent around 2017. From 2019, he repeatedly received money in exchange for leaking military secrets and was indicted and detained in August 2024 on charges of general espionage under the Military Criminal Act. Additional charges included bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and violation of the Military Secrets Protection Act.

Cheon had served as a non-commissioned officer at the Defense Security Command since the 1990s and became a civilian employee in the mid-2000s. During the period of the offense, he worked as a team leader at the Command and was known to be a Grade 5 civilian employee at the time of indictment. According to military prosecutors, in April 2017, Cheon traveled to Yanji, China to contact a local network he had established, but was detained by Chinese authorities at the airport and was approached for recruitment during the investigation. It was confirmed that Cheon leaked a total of 30 pieces of classified information-12 in document form and 18 as voice messages. The leaked secrets included a list of black agents operating undercover.

Cheon actively committed the crimes by demanding money from the Chinese agent about 40 times. The total amount he demanded reached 400 million won, and the indictment states that he actually received 162.05 million won through accounts under acquaintances' names.

The Central District Military Court, the court of first instance, found Cheon guilty and sentenced him to 20 years in prison, a fine of 1.2 billion won, and a forfeiture of 162.05 million won. The Seoul High Court, which handled the appeal, sentenced him to 20 years in prison, a fine of 1 billion won, and a forfeiture of 162.05 million won, noting that some of the bribery amounts had been counted twice and therefore reduced the fine.

The Supreme Court stated, "Considering the defendant’s age, character, environment, the motive, means, and consequences of the crime, as well as the circumstances after the crime, the lower court’s sentence of 20 years in prison and related penalties cannot be considered excessively unjust," thereby dismissing Cheon's appeal.