THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 26, 1996 TAG: 9609260348
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 79 lines
A civilian Navy intelligence analyst with access to highly classified information was accused Wednesday of passing military secrets to South Korea, federal law enforcement officials said.
The analyst, Robert C. Kim, was identified by FBI officials as a Korean-born American citizen who worked at the Office of Naval Intelligence in suburban Maryland - the same office that employed Jonathan Pollard, a former civilian analyst who was sentenced to life in prison for spying for Israel.
Agents arrested Kim on Tuesday evening as he attended a diplomatic reception at Fort Myer, Va., across the Potomac River from the capital. The agents searched Kim's office, his home in Sterling, Va., and his 1987 Volvo.
Officials said the case reflected the spy trade that goes on behind the polite smiles of diplomacy, illustrating how even a close ally like South Korea was apparently willing to steal secrets from the United States while maintaining a public facade of congeniality.
Clinton administration officials said they were disturbed by the accusations, but maintained that the incident was unlikely to hurt ties to South Korea. ``Relations between the United States and the Republic of Korea are strong and of the nature that they can endure any alleged wrongdoing by an individual,'' Michael D. McCurry, the White House spokesman, said Wednesday.
While the case was potentially embarrassing to both countries, the classified material that Kim is suspected of giving the South Koreans did not appear to grievously jeopardize national security. Among the documents that agents said they had found in Kim's computer were classified files relating to North Korea and South Korea and other countries in the Pacific region.
``We think we know what he did and how much damage was done,'' said a Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ``Is it serious? Yes. Will the national security of the nation fall? No, I don't think so.''
Kim's primary work centered on a computer system that is designed to monitor international ship traffic, and he was charged under a relatively low-level espionage statute that imposes, upon conviction, a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Kim, 56, was born in Seoul and became a U.S. citizen in 1974. He was charged with turning over information to Capt. Baek Dong Il, a South Korean employed in the office of the naval attache at Seoul's embassy in Washington. Officials with the embassy would not discuss the matter Wednesday, and it was unclear whether the United States would ask South Korea to recall Baek. His three-year tour is scheduled to end this year.
Kim's alleged spying career was brief - from May to September, law enforcement officials said in an FBI affidavit used to obtain search and arrest warrants for Kim. The affidavit said that he regularly roamed the naval intelligence computer system, making copies of secret and top secret documents. It said he then stripped them of their classified designations, made paper reproductions on the office printer and passed them in manila envelopes to Baek.
A video camera secretly installed in Kim's office taped him copying and printing classified records on his computer, the FBI affidavit said.
Although law enforcement officials said they did not yet understand why Kim would spy for South Korea, the affidavit suggested that he was not a professional.
Agents who searched Kim's computer on May 5 reported finding a copy of a highly incriminating Jan. 24 letter in which Kim offered his services to Baek and another South Korean official.
On May 10, the affidavit said, agents monitoring Kim's telephone picked up a conversation between the two men in which Baek confirmed that he had received ``it,'' which apparently referred to a packet of classified documents.
If convicted of transmitting classified information to a foreign agent, Kim could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. But prosecutors were contemplating bringing espionage charges that could carry a life sentence, said a law enforcement source who spoke only on condition of anonymity. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The New York Times and The
Associated Press. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Suspected spy Robert C. Kim was identified by the FBI as a
Korean-born American citizen.
KEYWORDS: SPY by CNB