Korean soldier indicted for leaking secrets to China was raised in Beijing, prosecutors say
Published: 27 May. 2025, 11:20
![A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter takes off from Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, during joint Korea-U.S. Freedom Shield military exercise on March 10. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/05/27/0113833c-bb7f-48e5-ab94-fedbf66d44e7.jpg)
A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter takes off from Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, during joint Korea-U.S. Freedom Shield military exercise on March 10. [YONHAP]
A Korean Army corporal who has been indicted on charges of leaking military secrets related to Korea-U.S. joint exercises to a Chinese military intelligence agency has been revealed to be a naturalized citizen from China.
The corporal was born in China in 2003 to a Korean father and a Chinese mother, according to the indictment submitted by military prosecutors to conservative People Power Party Rep. Kang Dae-sik, who sits on the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee, on Monday.
Aside from living in Korea for about five months in 2008, he grew up primarily in Beijing. He also lived with his maternal grandparents, one of whom is a retired officer of China’s Rocket Force who left the military in 2005.
He enlisted in the Korean Army in December 2023 and served in a front-line unit as a supply soldier. After uploading a photo of himself in uniform to Chinese social media, he was contacted by an operative team affiliated with the Tianjin bureau of the intelligence department under the Joint Staff Department of the People’s Liberation Army, according to the indictment.
While vacationing in Beijing last August, the corporal met with a member of the Chinese intelligence agency and agreed to become an informant. He promised to transmit military secrets using a smartphone IP transfer program. Later, he was ordered to send a document related to the Korea-U.S. joint exercise Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) and transmitted the data using his unit’s computer.
![Soldiers are seen in front of combat vehicles at the U.S. Army base in Gyeonggi on March 10, when Korea-U.S. joint exercise Freedom Shield began. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/05/27/ba98d922-5e70-4dfe-9df0-490e57ad0ede.jpg)
Soldiers are seen in front of combat vehicles at the U.S. Army base in Gyeonggi on March 10, when Korea-U.S. joint exercise Freedom Shield began. [YONHAP]
The document he sent was written by U.S. Forces Korea and distributed to the Korean military. It included the names of U.S. bases in Korea, troop reinforcement plans and locations that could become precision strike targets in a combat situation.
Investigators also found that he leaked personal details — such as the affiliations, ranks, names and contact information — of personnel in charge of joint exercises, as well as a list of manuals from the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command.
In exchange for leaking the military secrets, the corporal received 88,000 yuan ($12,220) through Alipay between last August and February this year. He was arrested on April 18 after being caught in a counterintelligence investigation and was formally indicted on espionage-related charges in mid-May, according to military prosecutors.
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KIM JI-HYE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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