A Taiwanese national has been charged with spying after working secretly in Seoul for a son of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il for the past decade, South Korean intelligence said yesterday.
The 67-year-old man, identified only by his family name Cheung, has been charged with violating South Korea's National Security Law.
The long-term resident in Seoul worked for Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of North's leader, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said.
Kim Jong-nam is one of three sons who are vying to succeed their 63-year-old father. He is believed to be a computer buff entrusted with raising the North's poor technology level.
Cheung was recruited over a decade ago by a 49-year-old North Korean agent working in Beijing and linked directly to Kim Jong-nam, the NIS said.
Most of the information relayed by Cheung to the North Korean agent, also identified only by his family name, Cho, concerned high technology, the NIS said, adding that Cho was in contact with Kim Jong-nam via e-mail.
"Investigators have found the North Korean agent [Cho] has exchanged e-mails with the user of an e-mail account [who] was believed to be Kim Jong-nam," an NIS official said.
"Most of the information Cheung conveyed to Cho was concerned with the IT industry and technology," the official said.
In 2001, he gave Cho the latest edition of South Korea's IT Who's Who, which lists all the important actors in the high-technology sphere.
He also delivered South Korea's most recent government white paper on the information technology sector.
Cheung, at the request of the North Korean agent, also attempted to obtain a detailed electronic maritime map of the South Korean coast but failed, the NIS official said.
Cheung, described as a businessman from Taiwan trading with China, met the 49-year-old North Korean agent for the first time in 1986 in Beijing.
From the early 1990s, Cheung's business relationship with Cho changed and he began working as a spy, according to the NIS.
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