Supreme Court finalizes sentence for soldier who leaked Korea-U.S. secrets to China

An active-duty Army sergeant who leaked classified military information — including data on Korea-U.S. joint military exercises — to a Chinese intelligence contact in exchange for cash has had his four-year prison sentence finalized by the Supreme Court.

The top court said Friday that it dismissed the convict's appeal and finalized the lower court's ruling, which found him guilty of aiding the enemy, leaking military secrets, taking bribes in connection with a wrongful act in the line of duty, and violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. He was sentenced to four years in prison, a 20 million won ($14,500) fine and forfeiture of about 19.07 million won.

The convict, then a sergeant with the Army's 21st Infantry Division, met a Chinese national of unidentified name in Beijing in August 2024 after the two connected through social media.

The contact, who identified himself as a member of a Chinese intelligence organization, asked the sergeant to hand over undisclosed military materials. He agreed and, in return, received 15,000 yuan ($2,200) along with a spy camera disguised as a wristwatch and an iPhone, all of which he smuggled onto base without authorization.

Over the roughly seven months that followed, through February, he received a total of 80,000 yuan across seven separate payments in exchange for leaking classified military information, including up-to-date data on Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, materials related to the UN Command and details on Korea's own unilateral military drills and troop movements.

The Regional Military Court, which handled the first trial, found that he had acted with intent to aid the enemy and sentenced him to five years in prison.

The Seoul High Court, hearing the appeal, overturned that ruling and instead sentenced him to four years in prison, a 20 million won fine and forfeiture of just over 19 million won.

The appellate court found his culpability serious given that he had systematically and methodically leaked military secrets as an active-duty service member, but weighed his remorse and lack of any prior criminal record in reducing the sentence.

The court also acquitted him of a prostitution-related charge that prosecutors had additionally filed. It found that evidence of prostitution, which investigators had collected under a warrant issued for the military secrets leak rather than a separate warrant, was inadmissible as unlawfully obtained evidence under the principles governing warrant requirements and statutory limits on compulsory investigative measures.

The Supreme Court found no error in the lower court's legal reasoning or fact-finding, dismissing the appeal and finalizing the sentence.

BY KO SEUNG-PYO [[email protected]]