A former college Reserve Officers' Training Corps [ROTC] officer in his 30s was arrested and charged for handing over confidential information and conducting an illegal business with spies from the North’s General Bureau of Reconnaissance.

According to Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency’s security investigation unit, former ROTC member, surnamed Chun, was arrested for violating South Korea's National Security Law on five counts: espionage, conspiracy, special infiltration and escape, meeting, and communication.

Chun is currently being charged for running illegal software programs, designed to collect cyber money from online games, with North Korean spies and sharing the profits. Additionally, he met with North Korean spies on five other occasions in China's Shenyang and Dandong where he provided them with instructional materials on how to electronically bid on private businesses, as well as IDs and passwords to a website covering these methods.

Chun also allegedly  received software from North Korean spies that circulates a malware program on South Korea’s main websites at random.

Police officials explained that Chun was originally involved  with an illicit business dealing in software programs when he discovered and began meeting with spies from North Korea’s General Bureau of Reconnaissance, from whom he was able to import the same programs at half the price he was paying domestically.

Chun asserted that he originally only made contact with the spies for the programs, but later gave in to other demands they made.

In a police investigation, Chun stated, “The programs would function well and then suddenly stop working. When I would contact the North to ask about this, they demanded other things in addition to money. I have four children including twins. If I had just quit then, I wouldn’t have been able to feed my children, so I couldn’t help it.”

The police have also disclosed that Chun even made attempts to access the Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees’ [Hanawon] defector list and the South Korean Public Procurement Service’s server IP, but ultimately failed to do so.

South Korean authorities assume Chun to have several accomplices and are still carrying out investigations into the matter.