Former SKorean officers accused of espionage

South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday announced the arrest of two former army officers on charges of obtaining classified military information for a US defence company.

Prosecutors said the two ex-colonels, identified only as Hwang and Ryu, work for the Security Management Institute, a private organisation with access to defence information.

They said the ex-officers had acquired information for Northrop Grumman, a US aerospace and defence technology company.

Hwang, 64, set up the private institute after heading the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, a defence ministry think-tank, for three years.

Information they allegedly acquired through contacts with military officers covered the operations and arms acquisition projects of South Korea's coast guard and navy, prosecutors said.

Hwang had been questioned as part of a probe into alleged wrongdoing involving foreign defence firms.

A former air force major-general was arrested on October 16 on charges of leaking classified military information to Swedish defence and aviation company Saab.

The ex-general is suspected of handing over information on the multi-million-dollar KF-X programme to develop stealth fighters, an official at the prosecutors' office in Seoul told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Saab reportedly denied any wrongdoing and said it was co-operating with the investigation.