Told family would face harm if he did not comply
It was found that a South Korean consul working in a foreign country was threatened with harm if he did not leak diplomatic secrets of the South Korean government. The consul reported the threats, and the police and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) have launched an investigation into the incident. Park Gi-ryun, an official of the National Police Agency, said on October 13, "According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in June, a consul working in [another] Asian nation received e-mails and telephone calls threatening him to provide the secret codes used by Korean embassies and legations abroad. The ministry requested us to confirm who sent the mails and we are conducting an investigation into the incident. The e-mails said that unless he provide the secrets, the consul and his family would be in danger," added Park. The system of codes, used by overseas embassies and legations to decode messages from the Foreign Ministry, are classified information. The consul received about 10 e-mails and telephone calls between March and August, and the names of four staff members of South Korean diplomatic facilities in other regions, including Africa, were used to make this contact with the consul. As the e-mails and telephone calls were conducted in Korean, it is possible that North Korean agents were involved, sources say, but nothing has been confirmed.One e-mail asked the consul "to cooperate, as you have done in the past," a comment the police investigated in particular, as it may have referred to information leaked by the consul; however, subsequent inquiry has cleared the consul of wrongdoing. The police said that they have found the IP address from where the e-mails were dispatched, and that they have placed a request to the security authorities of the related nation in order to conduct an investigation there.
