South Korea's counterintelligence authorities have been investigating a Chinese national for allegedly bribing a South Korean soldier to obtain military secrets, the Seoul-based Yonhap News reported on Thursday.
The Defense Counterintelligence Command said it has launched a probe after detecting allegations that a Chinese national and an active duty South Korean soldier have violated the military secret protection act.
The Chinese national is suspected of approaching South Korean soldiers in a group chat room by posing as a soldier himself.
The suspect, arrested on the southern resort island of Jeju last month, is believed to have offered to pay the soldiers in exchange for military secrets in one-on-one conversations.
A soldier serving at a unit in South Korea's Gangwon province allegedly used an unauthorized phone to take photos of internal documents that include information on joint South Korea-US military drills and provided them to the suspect.
The counterintelligence command is reportedly looking into allegations that the Chinese suspect is a member of a larger group based in China.
The group is led by a ringleader who is possibly linked with the Chinese military, according to Yonhap News.
Separately, Beijing also arrested three citizens of the Philippines on Thursday on charges of espionage.
The investigation conducted by the Chinese authorities claimed that the Philippines intelligence agencies have been paying attention to gathering data on Beijing's military deployments, according to the state media Global Times.
