[UMATURLIN]

S.Korea general faces arrest for spying: report

Published: 9/06/2010 at 01:52 PM

South Korea's military on Wednesday sought an arrest warrant for a two-star army general accused of leaking the country's war plan and other secrets to North Korea, a news report said.

File photo shows South Korean soldiers atop armoured vehicles during a drill at the town of Paju on the border with North Korea. South Korea's military on Wednesday sought an arrest warrant for a two-star army general accused of leaking the country's war plan and other secrets to North Korea, a news report said.

The Defence Security Command asked military prosecutors to arrest the major-general identified only as Kim for leaking classified information, Yonhap news agency said. A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report. The leaked secrets include a military operation to be carried out in case of all-out war with North Korea, Yonhap said.

The bid to detain the general follows the arrest on June 3 of two people accused of handing over military secrets to the North, Yonhap said. It said one of them is a former spy for the South who acquired military secrets through the general and handed them to a North Korean agent in China in return for an unspecified payment.

The South periodically detains people accused of spying for its communist neighbour. A female North Korean spy arrested last month used sex to secure sensitive information on Seoul's subway system, prosecutors have said. In another case, a female North Korean spy was arrested and jailed for five years in 2008. She had admitted having sex with a South Korean army officer to secure secret information.