South Korean man sentenced to five years in prison for spying for North Korea

A South Korean man has been sentenced to five years in prison in Seoul for spying for North Korea, including gathering information on defectors critical of Pyongyang and attempting to recruit South Korean military officers.

The 43-year-old was recruited in 2021 by a North Korean agent, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. His assignments included collecting information on North Korean defectors and several officers in the South Korean Army.

The Seoul Central District Court stressed in its ruling that information about North Korean defectors must be protected to prevent harm to them or their families. Yonhap reported that the man received about 660 million won, equivalent to around 423,000 euros, in cryptocurrency to finance his activities.

Among his actions, the man hired a private detective agency to investigate one of the officers. He obtained details including the officer’s home address and military unit. He also approached the leader of a North Korean defectors’ group, offering to finance its activities, and obtained images of the group distributing leaflets critical of Pyongyang.

The man had already been convicted by South Korea’s Supreme Court in December last year over another incident related to North Korea.