A navy petty officer was given a life sentence on Monday by the northern military court after he was convicted of compromising military secrets, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
Petty officer first class Liu Yueh-lung (
Liu could have been sentenced to death for the offenses but the northern military court gave him a lighter punishment upon consideration that he was forced to do so by his father.
The classified materials that Liu stole for his father are mainly about navy communication codes which Liu was able to obtain while serving on a missile boat between June 2000, and August of last year.
They include, for instance, communication codes that the navy used in its request for fire support from the air force, the northern military court said. Liu's theft of these materials to sell to China has harmed the military and put the security of the country at risk, the court said.
Liu was arrested in June by law enforcement officers on a Yang-class destroyer, where he was also involved in communication work.
Shortly after Liu's arrest, the navy ordered a complete change of communication codes across the service, sources said.
Besides, codes for the launch of weapon systems on board Yang-class destroyers had also been changed in case Liu copied those codes as well.
The harm that Liu has inflicted on the navy is hard to estimate. Although the navy has changed its communication and weapons launch codes, China may already know how to break these codes.
Liu's gathering of military secrets was initially played down by the navy, which insisted that Liu was just a petty officer and did not have access to any highly sensitive materials such as communication codes.
But the northern military court's ruling clearly states that the classified materials Liu stole included communication codes.
The army handled a case in a similar way when an officer defected to China several months ago.
The army claimed the defector, officer Captain Wang Yi-hung (
An army officer who served at a missile unit said that it would be difficult to believe that Wang would not have had access to information about the missile since he was one of the leaders of his company.
"Wang might not have brought away any classified documents. But he was probably able to memorize some of the classified information that he had access to," the official said.
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