Espionage charges mulled after photos show up on Internet news site
The Seoul police have announced that it is investigating a photographer on suspicion of military espionage. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on January 24 that it has been conducting a investigation on Mr. Lee (40), a photographer, for several months after obtaining a wiretap warrant. The police said it launched the investigation after receiving a tip that Lee had photographed weapons at U.S. military bases in Korea and had given the photos to the media. Lee is under suspicion of leaking military intelligence, the police said, such as revealing the U.S. Forces Korea’s chemical weapons deployment status, to the public through news articles and contributions to the media. Lee took the photos while a reporter for a progressive internet media site. However, a representative of the progressive internet media site for which Lee worked said, "We did run an article with a picture of a nuclear submarine docked at Jinhae Port. But the picture was taken by some other environmental group. At the time, Mr. Lee was not able to take a picture of the nuclear sub." The representative also said that Mr. Lee wrote the special report under question on the chemical weapons status of the U.S. Forces in Korea being revealed to the public "based on the information the U.S. military disclosed in accordance with their Freedom of Information Act."Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
