South Korea could take ‘years to rebuild’ spy networks after leak exposes undercover agents

A list containing the names and identities of numerous South Korean undercover agents has been leaked to a suspected North Korean operative, sparking intense criticism over the apparent violation of discipline within Seoul’s military intelligence agency.

The incident has reportedly forced some agents to return home hastily, fearing for their lives and abandoning overseas intelligence networks that took years to establish.

The breach was discovered accidentally when South Korean hackers detected the file on the computer of a Chinese national of Korean descent, who is believed to be an informant for North Korea’s intelligence agency.

South Korean authorities later traced the source of the leak back to the notebook computer of a civilian official within the Korea Defence Intelligence Command (KDIC).

The unnamed official was referred to military prosecution authorities on charges of espionage, the defence ministry said on Thursday.

The individual was arrested last week, accused of passing on the personal information of undercover military agents, known locally as “black agents”, to the same Chinese national of Korean descent.

Yang Uk, a senior researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said KDIC served as South Korea’s military intelligence agency while the National Intelligence Service (NIS) played roles akin to those of the CIA in the United States.

“This breach signifies the collapse of one of the two pillars of the country’s human intelligence [HUMINT] capabilities,” Yang told This Week in Asia.

HUMINT refers to intelligence gathering through human agents rather than electronic methods such as wiretapping.

“It could take South Korea many years to rebuild KDIC’s overseas intelligence networks,” Yang added.

Defence