China is getting tougher with South Korean spies caught collecting intelligence there on North Korea, jailing one of them for more than a year despite pleas from Seoul, news reports said Tuesday.

The army major had been trying to collect information on the North's nuclear and missile programmes when he was caught in July last year in a sting operation, Yonhap news agency and the Korea JoongAng Daily said.

A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment.

The newspaper said the man it identified as Major Cho was arrested in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang following a rendezvous with a Chinese military officer posing as an informant.

Cho gave tens of thousands of dollars to the Chinese officer for information about the North's nuclear development and missiles, it said. He was jailed for 14 months despite the South's request that he be repatriated.

A captured agent is usually released and repatriated after his home country promises in writing to prevent a recurrence, the Korea Joongang Daily said.

Cho's imprisonment also caused unrest among South Korean intelligence agents because he was repatriated along with South Korean criminals who had been arrested for robbery or fraud, it said.

The paper quoted intelligence officials as saying Cho may have been treated more toughly than normal because he was arrested at a sensitive time, just after the North's second nuclear test in May 2009.

China is the North's sole major ally and economic lifeline.

earlier related report

US defense chief adds South Korea to Asia trip
Washington (AFP) Dec 27, 2010 –

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates will make a brief stop in Seoul when he travels next month to China and Japan, the Pentagon said Monday.

"Secretary Gates has added a brief stop in the Republic of Korea to his upcoming trip to Asia," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said in a statement.

After visiting China and Japan, Gates is due to meet with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul on January 14, for talks centered on flaring tensions between the US ally and North Korea.

"They will discuss North Korea's recent actions and consult on the way forward for the alliance to address the threats posed by North Korean provocations and its nuclear and missile programs," Morrell said.

The South has staged a series of military exercises, including one with the United States, since the North shelled an island near the disputed Yellow Sea border last month and killed four people, including two civilians.

The North's ruling communist party newspaper branded the exercises a "dangerous collusion" between Seoul and Washington that would lead to "destruction."

Gates' visit to China — North Korea's main ally — will come a year after Beijing ended military relations with Washington in protest against a multi-billion-dollar US arms package for rival Taiwan.

The two nations have since resumed low-level military contacts at a technical level and Gates will visit at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Liang Guanglie.

Morrell said last week that Gates would work to build a military relationship with China "that is confident in tone, cooperative in nature and comprehensive in scope."

Gates had sought to visit in June during a regional tour but China rebuffed him.

The visit has been keenly sought by President Barack Obama's administration, which considers the military to be the most hesitant about the United States among China's major institutions.

During his stop in Japan, a close ally home to nearly 50,000 US troops, Gates will meet with Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa for talks on regional security developments and plans to boost the bilateral alliance.

Japan announced earlier this month a shift to upgrade its defenses in the south as it aired concern about China's fast-growing military as well as the threat from North Korea.

The usually rock-solid alliance between the United States and Japan has experienced difficulties since last year, when a new government in Tokyo tried to renegotiate a deal on an unpopular US base.

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