By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Substantial confidential military information has been leaked over the past five years on domestic Web sites that enable Internet users to share content such as video clips, the Ministry of National Defense admitted Thursday.
In a report to a National Assembly committee, the defense ministry said a lot of classified information on military affairs had been stolen when soldiers logged on to P2P (peer-to-peer) sites such as ``Fileguri'' and ``V-Share.''
For example, an Army lieutenant logged in on the V-Share site in 2006 with his laptop computer to download a TV drama.
But confidential information on his unit's missions were leaked unintentionally during the download, it said.
``Training for enlisted soldiers and officers on proper use of the Internet have been beefed up to prevent additional leaks,'' a ministry official said.
The South Korean military has been placed on high alert over the leakage of military information on- and offline.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the authorities had raided the office of Swedish defense and aviation company, Saab, last month to investigate the firm's alleged bribery of a local research institute to gain confidential information on a fighter development project.
The Defense Security Command began summoning suspects Thursday for questioning.
Investigators said Saab had allegedly bribed the president of the Security Management Institute, Dr. Hwang Dong-joon, in return for information on the operational requirements of the KF-X fighter jet.