A South Korean man has been sentenced to five years in prison for spying for North Korea, officials said Saturday. The 43-year-old man, whose identity was withheld, was found to have received an order from a North Korean agent via the messaging app Telegram in May-June of 2021 to collect information about anti-Pyongyang defectors from North Korea and their activities. Around that time, the man took about 660 million won ($479,346) worth of virtual currency from the North Korean agent as funds for operating cryptocurrency investments. He later approached the head of a North Korean defector group, offering to sponsor the organization. He asked the leader to create a virtual currency wallet and forwarded its address to the North Korean agent. After the agent transferred 1 million won worth of Bitcoin in the name of donation, the man received videos and photos showing the group sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets in return. The man was also instructed by the agent to collect personal information of seven active-duty military officers, including their units and resident registration numbers, and a