WASHINGTON - In a case rare for its implications between two friendly countries, a civilian U.S. naval intelligence official was charged in U.S. District Court yesterday with passing more than 50 top-secret, classified documents to the South Korean government.
Robert Chaegon Kim, a Navy analyst who immigrated here from his native Seoul and became a citizen in 1974, has been under surveillance since May and allegedly was observed by federal agents copying and transmitting documents as part of an arrangement with a South Korean naval attache assigned here.
Kim was arrested Tuesday night while attending an Armed Forces Day military reception sponsored by the South Korean Embassy at a military base in the Washington area.
How much damage the case may have caused U.S. intelligence operations remains unclear. Authorities said Kim had access to classified records dating to 1979, but officials did not say how long Kim had allegedly passed documents to South Korea.
News of the case drew immediate reaction - some of it harsh - from Washington government leaders who found themselves suddenly dealing with the latest in a series of high-profile espionage cases that have rocked the U.S. intelligence community in recent years, most notably the scandal involving CIA operative Aldrich Ames and his wife, Rosario. They both pleaded guilty to spying for the Soviet Union in a case considered the most damaging espionage incident in U.S. history.
Government officials said that senior South Korea diplomats in Washington were summoned to the State Department after Kim's arrest and warned that the United States "is very disturbed at this development."
Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who just before the arrest met in New York with South Korean Foreign Minister Gong Ro Myung, said he was "very disturbed by the reports that I have received of that arrest and the incident itself."
But White House spokesperson Mike McCurry said the U.S.-South Korean alliance will persevere. The two countries, he said, "remain strong and of the nature that they can endure any alleged wrongdoing by an individual."
Government sources said that Kim, who four years after becoming a U.S. citizen went to work for the Office of Naval Intelligence, apparently was not paid for turning over the secret records, many of which directly related to U.S. interests regarding the two Koreas and other Asia-Pacific countries.
A 21-page affidavit filed with his arrest did not list any compensation or motivation Kim may have had for allegedly helping the South Koreans.
NewsCom09/25/96 05:41:20 PM