Tag: espionage

Why is South Korea retrying a spy chief who assassinated a president?

Two gunshots.

That is how Yoo Seok-sul begins recounting the night of Friday, 26 October, 1979.

A former security guard in the Korea Central Intelligence Agency, or KCIA, as the South’s spy division was known, Yoo has many stories to tell. But this is perhaps the most infamous.

He remembers the time – nearly 19:40 – and where he had been sitting – in the break room. He was resting after his shift guarding the entrance to the low-rise compound where President Park Chung-hee entertained his most trusted lieutenants. They called it the “safe house”.

In his 70s now, wiry with sharp eyes, Yoo speaks hesitantly at first – but it comes back to him quickly. After the first shots, more gunfire followed, he says. The guards were on high alert but they waited outside for orders. The president’s security detail was inside, along with the KCIA’s top agents.

Then Yoo’s boss, a KCIA officer who oversaw security for the safe house, stepped outside. “He came over and asked me to bury something in the garden.” It was two guns, bullets and a pair of shoes. Flustered, Yoo followed orders, he says.

He did not know who had been shot, and he didn’t ask.

“I never imagined that it was the president.”

The guns Yoo buried were used to assassinate Park Chung-hee, who had ruled South Korea for the previous 18 years, longer than any president before or since. The man who shot him was his long-time friend Kim Jae-gyu, who ran the much-feared KCIA, a pillar of Park’s dictatorship.

That Friday shook South Korea, ending Park Chung-hee’s stifling rule and ushering in another decade under the military. Kim was executed for insurrection, along with five others.

Now, 46 years later, that night is back in the spotlight as a court retries Kim Jae-gyu to determine if his actions amounted to treason. He has remained a deeply polarising figure – some see him as a killer blinded by power and ambition, others as a patriot who sacrificed himself to set South Korea on the path to democracy. The president he killed is no less divisive, lauded for his country’s economic rise and reviled for his authoritarian rule.

Kim’s family fought for the retrial, arguing that he cannot be remembered as a traitor. They will now have their day in the Seoul High Court – hearings began on Wednesday – just as impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol goes on trial for the same charge that sent Kim to the gallows.

Yoon’s martial law order last December was short-lived but it threw up questions about South Korean democracy – and that may influence how the country sees a man who shot dead a dictator he claimed was on the brink of unleashing carnage.

Was Kim trying to seize power for himself or to spark a revolution, as he claimed in court?

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Fighting against Chinese cyber-espionage, FBI hunts down members of Chinese hacking networks

When Chinese national Xu Zewei stepped off a plane at Milan’s Malpensa airport for a vacation with his wife, Italian authorities arrested him. The Italians executed an American warrant issued by investigators for his alleged role in the most prolific Beijing-backed cyber-espionage campaign in recent years.

Before Xu’s July 3 arrest, the Justice Department often charged alleged Chinese hackers in absentia. But now, the Trump administration has detained for the first time one of Beijing’s suspected cyber operators as part of its wider effort to combat Chinese espionage against the United States.

The Justice Department announced Xu’s arrest earlier this week and outlined the charges against him as part of a nine-count indictment along with one codefendant. The pair are accused of involvement in computer intrusions that compromised personal data, intellectual property, COVID-19 research at U.S. universities, and law firm materials, the Justice Department said. 

The arrest of Xu Zewei in Italy marks one of the first recorded cases of the FBI apprehending a suspected Chinese hacker. The FBI’s Houston Field Office, which led the case, said in a social media post shortly after the announcement that Xu Zewei was “one of the first hackers linked to Chinese intelligence services to be captured by the FBI.” 

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Two Chinese Nationals Arrested, Accused of Espionage Targeting U.S. Navy Personnel

Two individuals believed to be working on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party’s intelligence agency have been arrested by U.S. authorities for allegedly spying on U.S. Navy service members and recruiting military personnel to assist their efforts.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Yuance Chen, residing in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren Lai, who entered the country on a tourist visa and was apprehended in Houston, Texas, were taken into custody last Friday. 

Both men face serious charges for acting as agents of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS)—the country’s primary foreign intelligence service—conducting covert operations across the United States.

According to the DOJ, the pair engaged in a range of clandestine activities, including gathering sensitive information on Navy bases and personnel, facilitating cash payments through “dead drop” techniques and attempting to recruit U.S. Navy members to cooperate with the MSS.

FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized the importance of these arrests in protecting national security.

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Britain’s Long History of Spying on Iran

As bombs fell on Iran last month, the U.K. government claimed it had “not participated” in the military action led by Israel and the U.S. 

But British spy agencies have a long history of meddling in Iran, with everything from covert influence operations, to secretly selling chemical weapons materials to the regime.

In one case, the U.K. spy agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) even created a network of fake Twitter accounts to secretly monitor Iranian opposition activists – the very people working to remove supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from power.

Coup

British spies have targeted Iran for decades, driven by commercial profit and regional control.

In 1951, when the country’s secular prime minister, Mohammed Mosaddeq, nationalised the British Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later known as BP), the British ambassador wrote: “It is so important to prevent the Persians from destroying their main source of revenue … by trying to run it themselves.”

Two years later, the U.K. and U.S. secretly backed a coup to oust Mosaddeq and centralise power under a repressive “pro-Western” regime. 

Declassified files have since revealed the central role played by MI6, which recruited agents and bribed members of Iran’s Parliament. In doing so, one former spy claimed they spent “well over a million and a half pounds”. 

The U.K. and U.S. then supported Iran’s dictator, the shah, for the next 25 years. 

By 1979, the Iranian Revolution saw the establishment of the Islamic Republic led by another dictator, Ayatollah Khomeini. But this did not stop British spies from collaborating with the regime when it was in their interests.

For instance, in 1983, British intelligence provided Khomeini with a list of Iranians allegedly working for the Soviet Union. The intelligence was used to round up over 1,000 communists, as many as 200 of whom were executed. Meanwhile Iran’s communist party, the Tudeh, was banned and forced underground. 

Secret relations were again exploited in the early 1990s, when MI6 helped supply Iran with materials to make chemical weapons — despite its own ban on such sales. 

Britain’s aim was supposedly to use the deals as a way to insert operatives into the Iranian government and gather intelligence about its weapons programmes.

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Spying on Iran: How MI6 infiltrated the IAEA

Leaked confidential files indicate the International Atomic Energy Agency was infiltrated by a veteran British spy who has claimed credit for sanctions on Iran. The documents lend weight to the Islamic Republic’s accusation that the nuclear watchdog secretly colluded with its enemies.

A notorious British MI6 agent infiltrated the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on London’s behalf, according to leaked documents reviewed by The Grayzone. The agent, Nicholas Langman, is a veteran intelligence operative who claims credit for helping engineer the West’s economic war on Iran.

Langman’s identity first surfaced in journalistic accounts of his role in deflecting accusations that British intelligence played a role in the death of Princess Diana. He was later accused by Greek authorities of overseeing the abduction and torture of Pakistani migrants in Athens.

In both cases, UK authorities issued censorship orders forbidding the press from publishing his name. But Greek media, which was under no such obligation, confirmed that Langman was one of the MI6 assets withdrawn from Britain’s embassy in Athens.

The Grayzone discovered the résumé of the journeyman British operative in a trove of leaked papers detailing the activities of Torchlight, a prolific British intelligence cutout. The bio of the longtime MI6 officer reveals he “led large, inter-agency teams to identify and defeat the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons technology, including by innovative technical means and sanctions.” 

In particular, the MI6 agent says he “worked to prevent WMD proliferation through… support for the [IAEA] and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] and through high level international partnerships.”

Langman’s CV credits him with playing a major role in organizing the sanctions regime on Iran by “[building] highly effective and mutually supportive relations across government and with senior US, European, Middle and Far Eastern colleagues for strategy” between 2010 and 2012. He boasts in his bio that this achievement “enabled [the] major diplomatic success of [the] Iranian nuclear and sanctions agreement.” 

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House Republican Introduces Bill to Increase Penalties for Spies Working for US Adversaries

Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.) has introduced new legislation that would mandate harsher prison terms for those responsible for carrying out espionage for America’s top adversaries, namely China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.

Harrigan, who serves on the House’s Armed Services and Science, Space and Technology committees, introduced the Foreign Adversary Federal Offense (FAFO) Act (HR 4081), which would set a minimum prison sentence of 15 years for defense-related espionage and at least 10 years in prison without parole for economic espionage.

Corporations or other organizations found guilty of economic espionage would face a fine of $20 million or five times the value of the stolen trade secret.

“My FAFO Act is a direct response to the growing threat posed by foreign adversaries targeting the United States from within,” Harrigan said in a statement on June 24. “When individuals steal defense secrets or compromise our critical infrastructure on behalf of China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea, they are committing an act of betrayal against this country.

“This legislation ensures they face severe, unrelenting consequences. There will be no plea deals, no light sentences, and no path to parole. If you betray America, you will face the full weight of American justice.”

According to the bill, the penalties would be specific to those advancing the interests of a “covered nation” under a U.S. law restricting the Department of Defense’s procurement of sensitive materials from a list of foreign countries, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

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Shock Report: Iran Admits Israel Has Infiltrated the “Highest Offices” of Its Government – Even Counter-Espionage Units Are Filled with Israeli Agents

On Friday, Israel launched an aerial attack that decimated Iran’s military leadership and destroyed much of Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities.

This was a huge blow to Iran but not unexpected. The US had recalled several diplomats and officials across the MidEast earlier in the week in anticipation of an Israeli military strike on Iran.

In two days of aerial strikes Israel eliminated several of the top Iranian officials sleeping in their homes in Tehran.

Banafsheh Zand Bonazzi at Iran So Far Away posted a diagram of the top Iranian officials targeted and eliminated by the Israeli military.

The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), the Commander of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces, the Commander of the IRGC’s airspace, the Commander of the Khatam Al-Anbia Construction Headquarters, and others have been eliminated so far.

Israel announced that it was not against taking out the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. This would immediately make the ayatollah a rallying cry for his devotees.

According to Iran Wire, the reason Israel is having such great success in their military strikes and strategy so far is because Iran’s “highest offices” have been infiltrated by Israeli agents.

Israel has had success infiltrating the Iranian regime thanks to the mass corruption of the officials.

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New Evidence Suggests FBI Agent Involved With Crossfire Hurricane Was Foreign Spy

The U.S. Department of Justice has reopened a case against a former top FBI counterspy. Charles McGonigal was Special Agent in Charge of Counterintelligence at the New York field office. He left the FBI in 2018, joined the massive Brookfield asset management fund as a vice president for global security, and was arrested and convicted in 2023. 

But not for espionage. McGonigal quickly pled guilty to corruption-related crimes. He is serving six-and-a-half years in federal prison. 

His prosecution and admission seem suspiciously tidy.

McGonigal was part of the FBI’s discredited CROSSFIRE HURRICANE “counterintelligence” operation led by his boss, Peter Strzok, against Donald Trump and his supporters in 2016.

As the former senior spy-hunter at the Bureau’s largest field office, McGonigal barely defended himself from charges relating to illegally accepting money from Albanian businessmen tied to that tiny country’s intelligence service, and for ties to a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

He received a light sentence and $40,000 fine.

Something feels off. To the Russian or Chinese intelligence services, someone in McGonigal’s position would be a prime intelligence mark — the man in charge of tracking them. 

Someone with his double life and excessive lifestyle makes a ripe target. It stretches credulity to think that Albanian intelligence got to McGonigal instead of Putin’s chekists.

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Anti-Trump Defense IT Specialist Arrested For Attempting to Provide Classified Information to Foreign Government Because He Did Not “Agree or Align with the Values of This Administration”

An anti-Trump IT specialist the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was arrested on Thursday for attempting to provide classified national defense information to a foreign government.

According to the DOJ, Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested on Thursday in northern Virginia, and will make his initial court appearance in the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday.

The Justice Department said Laatsch offered to transmit classified information to the foreign government because he did not “agree or align with the values of this administration” and was therefore “willing to share classified information” that he had access to, including “completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation.”

Per the Justice Department:

According to court documents, Laatsch became a civilian employee of the DIA in 2019, where he works with the Insider Threat Division and holds a Top Secret security clearance. In March 2025, the FBI commenced an operation after receiving a tip that an individual — now known to be Laatsch — offered to provide classified information to a friendly foreign government. In that email, the sender wrote that he did not “agree or align with the values of this administration” and was therefore “willing to share classified information” that he had access to, including “completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation.”

After multiple communications with an FBI agent — who Laatsch allegedly believed to be an official of the foreign government — Laatsch began transcribing classified information to a notepad at his desk and, over the course of approximately three days, repeatedly exfiltrated the information from his workspace. Laatsch subsequently confirmed to the FBI agent that he was prepared to transmit the information.

Thereafter, the FBI implemented an operation at a public park in northern Virginia, where Laatsch believed he would deposit the classified information for the foreign government to retrieve. On or about May 1, 2025, FBI surveillance observed Laatsch proceed to the specified location and deposit an item. Following Laatsch’s departure, the FBI retrieved the item, which was a thumb drive later found to contain a message from Laatsch and multiple typed documents, each containing information that was portion-marked up to the Secret or Top Secret levels. The message from Laatsch indicated that he had chosen to include “a decent sample size” of classified information to “decently demonstrate the range of types of products” to which he had access.

After receiving confirmation that the thumb drive had been received, on May 7, Laatsch allegedly sent a message to the FBI agent, which indicated Laatsch was seeking something from the foreign government in return for continuing to provide classified information. The next day, Laatsch specified that he was interested in “citizenship for your country” because he did not “expect[] things here to improve in the long term.” Although he said he was “not opposed to other compensation,” he was not in a position where he needed to seek “material compensation.”

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China Has ‘Aggressively Penetrated’ Whole of UK Economy, Admits Govt.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has successfully penetrated every sector of the United Kingdom (UK)’s economy as a result of the government’s willingness to accept Chinese money without asking questions, so says the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee in a report published Thursday.

The CCP has “prolifically and aggressively” targeted Britain’s industrial and energy sectors as a means of gaining control and influence over the British nation and its interests. It has also been “particularly effective” at using its money and influence to buy up universities and academia to ensure criticism of the party is suppressed and that Chinese values and narratives are pushed “at the expense of the West,” the report states.

The UK is one of China’s main targets due to its close relationship with the United States as well as the UK’s position as an “opinion former,” claims the Intelligence and Security Committee’s chairman, Julian Lewis.

The UK government has done little to counter the threat, instead choosing to take Chinese money while turning a blind eye to “China’s sleight of hand.” The report explains:

“The lack of action similarly to identify and protect UK assets from a known threat is a serious failure, and one that the UK may feel the consequences of for years to come.”

The UK is now “playing catch up,” but “[t]here is no evidence that Whitehall policy departments have the necessary resources, expertise or knowledge of the threat to counter China’s approach,” the report adds.

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