A South Korean intelligence official was recently deported from Libya on charges of illicit espionage, leading to the arrests of other South Korean residents there and further deteriorating the countries' bilateral ties, a diplomatic source here said Tuesday.
According to the source, an official of the Seoul-based National Intelligence Service (NIS) was expelled from Libya on June 18 for allegedly trying to collect information on the country's leader, Muammar al-Qaddafi, his family and key
Libyan bureaucrats.
The official, whose identity was withheld, was working out of the South Korean Embassy in Libya.
"Libyan authorities shadowed him for three months before arresting him last month," the source said. "He was interrogated for six days before getting deported as a persona non-grata."
The source explained the expelled official had never before been posted overseas and that he might have been too eager to please.
"In Libya, any information related to al-Qaddafi and his family is sensitive,
and going after it is quite dangerous," the source said.
The NIS had no immediate comment.
A Libyan official told the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that the authorities were trying to establish whether the South Korean was working for the South's intelligence agency or for a multinational one. The paper also reported that a Libyan employee at the South Korean Embassy had been arrested under suspicions of illegal spying but provided no further details.
When Seoul raised issue with the deportation, the source said Libya grew equally upset and on June 23 decided to close its economic cooperation
bureau in Seoul, which had served as a de facto embassy. Consular operations, including visa issuance, remain suspended.
The diplomatic source said the Libyan authorities "went on a sort of a witch hunt" targeting suspicious South Koreans, and nabbed a missionary named Koo on June 15 and then a farmer named Jeon on July 17, on charges of violating
the Muslim nation's religious law.
The foreign ministry here said Libya has denied South Korea consular access to the detainees.
Another diplomatic source said Lee Sang-deuk, a ruling party lawmaker and brother of President Lee Myung-bak, traveled to Libya earlier this month as a special envoy. His assignment, the official said, was "to try to clear any
misunderstanding" stemming from the deportation and "to clarify the situation" to the Libyan government.
When Lee's visit failed to produce any breakthrough, NIS representatives went to Libya last Tuesday for discussions with their Libyan counterparts, the source added.
According to a senior ministry official, the first round of meetings ended last week and Seoul was still awaiting Libya's response.
"The government is trying to ensure that this incident doesn't have any adverse effect on our bilateral relations and that it's resolved as quickly and smoothly as possible," he said.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic ties.
Libya is one of South Korea's largest construction markets, with more than US$3 billion in construction contracts last year.