[단독]Even stealing submarine-destroyer data gets a ‘suspended sentence’… Leaking passwords also gets a ‘soft’ punishment

The ‘Jangbogo-III’ submarine built by Hanwha Ocean. Courtesy of Hanwha Ocean

As public opinion grows against the laxity of military discipline in the wake of the incident in which military officers handed over a third-level secret ‘password’ to a private lender as collateral, it has been revealed that most recent similar military secret leak cases have received suspended sentences. There are claims that ‘soft punishment’ is aggravating the laxity of military discipline.

● Stealing military secrets for company profits is ‘not guilty’

On the 25th, the Dong-A Ilbo reporting team analyzed 15 cases of military secrets protection law violations that were decided from 2019 to last month, which could be confirmed in the Supreme Court’s decision search system and the court library. As a result, only two cases resulted in actual imprisonment. Most were suspended sentences, with 11 cases and acquittals in two cases.

The case of six employees of a defense industry company that manufactures and supplies ammunition stealing confidential information related to the military’s ammunition usage for the company’s benefit was found not guilty. The reason for the judgment was that “the confidential information is not of a nature that could threaten national security, and it was not for personal financial gain because the report was only submitted internally to the company.”

There have also been cases where people leaked passwords but received suspended sentences. In February 2022, civilian A, a former Army sergeant, was drinking with acquaintances when he called the unit he worked in and found out the password, which he then leaked to his acquaintances, but was given a suspended sentence.

All four cases of stealing sensitive military weapons technology information, including the domestic submarine Jang Bogo-III, were given suspended sentences. The fact that “they admitted to the crime and cooperated with the investigation” was taken into consideration.

Bird’s eye view of the Korean next-generation destroyer (KDDX). Courtesy of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries

●Most of the leakers are current or former military personnel and defense industry employees.

Most of those brought to trial on charges of violating the Military Secrets Protection Act were current or former military personnel or employees of defense industry companies.

Of the 15 cases analyzed by the investigative team, seven involved current or former military personnel, six involved defense industry representatives and employees, and the remaining two involved former Defense Acquisition Program Administration employees and police officers.

Former soldiers mostly leaked information by stealing materials they had while serving or through acquaintances they knew during their military days.

In 2016, an officer from the Intelligence Command leaked a level 2 classified document to the public in order to boast about his military career.

A former naval brigadier general who works as a university professor stole confidential information about North Korea’s military system and unit combat capabilities from a military acquaintance he knew, and used it for his personal research.

In the case of defense industry employees, the main motive for the crime was the pressure to outperform competitors.

Nine employees of the special ship business division of domestic defense company B decided to steal information on the next-generation Korean destroyer (KDDX), claiming, “It seems that our competitors have obtained this information, but we do not know it yet.” Some of these employees visited the office of a colonel at the Navy Headquarters in 2013, took pictures of the documents while the colonel was out, and uploaded them to the company’s internal network. All of these employees were sentenced to suspended sentences.

Another defense contractor, C, had its employees enter military offices under the direction of the company’s CEO and secretly take photos of technical service reports with their cell phones.

Experts point out that the court’s lenient punishment is further increasing the laxity of discipline, such as the leak of confidential information. Yoo Dong-yeol, head of the Liberty Democracy Research Institute, said, “The recent secret leak incidents, such as the secret password incident, are examples of problems with military discipline,” and added, “We need to raise the level of sentencing for leakers, and strengthen the audit function of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration to actively prevent information leaks by former military personnel and defense industry employees.”

Reporter Lim Jae-hyeok [email protected]
Reporter Lee Sang-hwan [email protected]
Reporter Son Jun-young [email protected]

2024-09-25 14:10:28