A military intelligence official has been referred to the military prosecution for allegedly leaking military secrets, including personal information of "black agents," or undercover espionage agents operating overseas.

According to the Defense Counterintelligence Command that investigated the allegations on Thursday, the civilian official affiliated with the Defense Intelligence Command was sent on charges of violating the Military Secret Protection Act, benefiting the enemy and espionage.

While the espionage offense, with a maximum sentence of the death penalty, is applied only when involving North Korea as the enemy, the fact that the charge was included in this case suggests that investigators had found a link to Pyongyang.

The alleged leak was reported to the military in June by intel authorities, after which the counterintelligence command confirmed a transfer of agents' personal information to a Chinese national via the official's personal laptop computer.

The official was arrested last Tuesday during the counterintelligence command's investigation.