Korea National Intelligence Service Caught Spying in Australia: Scooby Doo Where are You?

Newspapers throughout the world have been reporting that two South Korean spies have been caught trying to procure sensitive information from Australian government officials with access to information related to a proposed Korean-Australian Free Trade Agreement. 

This is not the first time that the Korean government has been accused of spying see: Seoul Hotel Break in Has Making of a Spy Novel.

What disappoints me is not that Korea is engaged in spying, but that they do it in such a Keystone cop-type fashion.  Its seems like the training is not coming from one of the CIA spy manuals, but out of one of those old Scooby Doo episodes I loved so much.

The present situation concerned a Korean-Australian official with the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics regular contact with known Korean National Intelligence Service officers. 

I bet Scooby Doo and his friend Scrappy, without the help of Dahne, Velma and Scrappy would have even caught them.  A Korean-Australian government worker meeting with those reported by the Korean government as liaison officers from the Korean National Intelligence Service seems like an easier catch. 

Hey guys, please for the good image of Korea, next time, get a native born Australian on board.  If you can’t, don’t jeopardize the image of Korea by these boneheaded antics. I bet Australian-Korean will have a very difficult time obtaining top secret clearance clearance in Korea in the future.

What do you think?

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Sean Hayes may be contacted at: SeanHayes@ipglegal.com.

 Sean Hayes is co-chair of the Korea Practice Team at IPG Legal. He is the only non-Korean to have worked as an attorney for the Korean court system (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a regular member of a Korean law faculty.

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About Sean Hayes

Sean Hayes is the first non-Korean employed as a foreign attorney by the Korean Court System (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a full-time regular member of a Korean law faculty. He is rated a Top Attorney by numerous legal rating agencies and is known for his street-smart advice, candor and aggressive & non-conflicted advocacy. Sean has been quoted by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNN, Money Today, US Today, The Korea Times, The Korea Herald, France 24, Asia Legal Business and other leading news sources. IPG was, recently, rated a top Dispute Resolution Law Firm and Sean a Top 100 Lawyer for International Law.