Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said there is no major vacuum in the nation's intelligence duties after a military official was alleged to have leaked information concerning undercover espionage agents operating overseas.

At a parliamentary standing committee session on Thursday, Shin said most related duties have normalized, but that the military intends to enforce stronger reform and follow-up measures. The minister also apologized to the South Korean people for the alleged leak.

Earlier, the Defense Counterintelligence Command confirmed a transfer of the agents' personal information to a Chinese national via the civilian official's personal laptop computer.

The official has been referred to the military prosecution 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.