A Korea Defense Intelligence Command (KDIC) officer has been arrested on charges of leaking classified military information, such as the personal details of secret agents, to a Chinese Korean (Chaoxianzu). Following the leak, the KDIC immediately recalled overseas personnel who were operating under disguised identities. This is a serious incident that threatens decades of accumulated intelligence assets.
South Korean counterintelligence authorities have charged the officer with leaking military secrets, which carries a lighter sentence than espionage under the Military Criminal Act, which could result in the death penalty or life imprisonment. According to South Korean law, espionage is defined as activities conducted for an “enemy,” which in this context refers to North Korea. Since the espionage was conducted for a “foreign country” like China or Russia, it does not fall under the legal definition of espionage in South Korean law. Consequently, the officer can only be prosecuted for leaking secrets, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Most countries do not differentiate between enemy states and allies when it comes to punishing espionage. For instance, the United States convicted Robert Kim, a Korean American Navy officer, of espionage for sharing information about North Korea with South Korea. Conversely, in South Korea, the operator of a Chinese restaurant in Seoul, suspected of running a Chinese secret police station, was only charged under the Food Sanitation Act. Economic espionage should also be harshly punished, but the current law’s limitation to North Korea as the only “enemy” obstructs such efforts.
Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the People Power Party (PPP), has proposed expanding the legal definition of espionage from “enemy states” to “foreign countries.” Members of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) also proposed an amendment to the espionage clause during the 21st National Assembly. There is no significant disagreement between the ruling and opposition parties regarding the expansion of the espionage law. Thus, there is no reason to delay the legal amendment.
The DPK also acknowledges the severity of this incident. Kim Min-seok, a candidate for the party’s supreme council, expressed concerns that the leaked KDIC information might have reached North Korea and called for an investigation to determine if the leak was intentional. If military secrets were passed to North Korea via Chinese Koreans and North Korea successfully recruited South Korean officers, it would be a grave issue. While comprehensive counterespionage efforts are necessary, the current law prevents the National Intelligence Service (NIS), which has expertise in espionage investigations, from participating. This is because the Moon Jae-in administration transferred the NIS’s counterespionage authority to the police.
In the face of an information war that threatens national security and strategic industries, South Korea’s legal system is alarmingly inadequate, verging on self-harm. Both the PPP and the DPK have a responsibility to expand the scope of the espionage law and restore the National Intelligence Service Korea Act to reinforce counterespionage capabilities.
