The South Korean government said Thursday that an alleged North Korean spy disguised as a defector was engaged in trading with North Korea.

The Unification Ministry said a trading company run by Won Jeong-hwa, who was arrested last month for spying for the North, imported 170-thousand dollars' worth of frozen octopuses from the communist country in 2005, and an additional 50-thousand dollars' worth in 2006.

A ministry spokesman said trading items do not require government authorization, and that once a transaction occurs, it is automatically registered in government statistics.