South Korea probes data leak of agents spying on the North

The Korea Defence Intelligence Command, a secretive branch of the South Korean military, discovered about a month ago that classified information, including personal data of its agents stationed overseas, had been leaked, according to Seoul’s Yonhap News Agency on Saturday.

Officials have since “detected signs” that the leaked data may have reached the nuclear-armed North, the Yonhap report said.

The case is “currently under investigation by military authorities,” the defence ministry said in a statement, without confirming the local reports.

The military plans to handle the case “sternly in accordance with laws and regulations according to the results of the investigation,” it added.

The leaked information reportedly included information about South Korean agents posing as diplomats overseas, as well as undercover agents, with some of them even returning home due to concerns about their identities being revealed, according to Yonhap.

Authorities are investigating a civilian official at the military intelligence command after discovering that the organisation’s classified information was stored on the official’s personal laptop, Yonhap said.

The official is suspected of leaking the information via the laptop but has reportedly claimed that the device was hacked, South Korean media reported.

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Yonhap said authorities are investigating the possibility that the official intentionally left the laptop vulnerable to hacking by North Koreans.

North Korean hackers “currently target sensitive military information and intellectual property of defence, aerospace, nuclear, engineering organisations,” the Thursday joint warning by Washington, Seoul and London said.

In May, Seoul