A South Korean researcher was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday for providing information to a North Korean agent who visited the ROK on multiple occasions, raising questions about Pyongyang spies operating in the South.

The Seoul Central District Court also ordered that Lee Jeong-hoon, a researcher at the April 27 Research Institute, have his qualifications suspended for five years over his numerous meetings and communications with the North Korean operative, spokespeople for the court told NK News.

“The defendant received multiple unidentified orders from North Korea’s Cultural Exchange Bureau and submitted several unidentified reports in