SEOUL - The Seoul Prosecutors' Office said Nov. 2 that it was seeking an arrest warrant for the head of a local defense think tank affiliated with the National Assembly on charges of leaking classified information on the KF-X fighter development program to Swedish aerospace firm Saab.
Prosecutors said they were also seeking an arrest warrant for a senior researcher, identified only by his surname Yoo, at the Security Management Institute (SMI) for helping SMI President Hwang Dong-joon, suspected of having taken a bribe from Saab in return for revealing the secrets to the firm.
"The investigation into Saab's alleged bribery case is still going on under the direction of the Seoul Prosecutors' Office to confirm suspicions that Hwang and other persons were leaking military secrets to Saab," said a spokesman for the Defense Security Command (DSC), leading the probe in cooperation with the National Intelligence Service.
Besides the Saab case, Hwang, who served as chief of the state-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analyses between 2002 and 2005, is suspected of having leaked information on plans by the South Korean Navy to acquire maritime surveillance systems, prosecutors said.
Since it was established as a parliamentary advisory group in 2005, Hwang's SMI has served as an influential research agency regarding South Korea's key arms procurement programs through alleged connections with the political circles under the previous liberal Roh Moo-hyun government.
The institute was designated by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) last year as an agency for studying weapon programs, cost analyses and defense technology development plans.
Earlier, Hwang and Saab officials denied their alleged bribery connection. Saab said it spent $17,200 to fund Hwang's visit to Stockholm in March to attend a trade seminar hosted by Exportradet, Sweden's export trade council.
Security authorities here, however, allege that the sums involved were greater than that acknowledged by Saab.
DSC Commander Lt. Gen. Kim Jong-tae said in a parliamentary audit Oct. 6 that six people, including incumbent military officers, were being investigated.
Prosecutors already arrested retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Kim Deuk-hwan for handing over to Saab information on the KF-X program to help develop home-grown fighter aircraft. Kim worked as a consultant for the Swedish defense group.
Saab has been referred to as a viable candidate to join the now-delayed KF-X effort aimed at developing an F-16-class fighter, with technical assistance of foreign manufactures, to replace South Korea's aging F-4s and F-5s.
The Swedish government, through Exportradet and Saab, has expressed interest in forming a partnership to support South Korea's ambition to build a stealth combat aircraft. Sweden has offered to discuss an alliance that would see South Korea participate in the development of the next-generation Gripen program, while Saab is also interested in collaborating in the KF-X development using Swedish stealth technologies.
In 2007, the KF-X program was assessed as not viable economically and technically. The program has been postponed again due to the small increase of next year's defense budget. The original proposal was to spend 1.4 billion won ($1.2 million) to initiate development.
Estimates of the total cost vary, with the DAPA estimating about 100 billion won for development.
The Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is ready to test a few components that soldiers may have in their hands by 2010.
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