Prison term upheld for NSB officer who leaked information

Taipei, March 13 (CNA) The Supreme Court has upheld a four-year prison sentence for a former National Security Bureau (NSB) officer who was found guilty of leaking classified information while seeking a teaching job in China.

The ruling, issued Wednesday, upheld lower court sentences after finding no legal errors in their judgments against Peng Shun-fu (彭順富). It is final and cannot be appealed.

Peng, who served as an intelligence officer in the Taiwanese agency from 1995 until leaving active service in 2006, posted details of his background and research from his time at the bureau on an academic recruitment website supervised by China's Ministry of Education in May 2018, according to court rulings.

Court documents said the posting disclosed information related to "intelligence sources, channels or organizations, and the identities of intelligence personnel."

Peng's responsibilities at the NSB included decrypting electronic cipher machines, and his duties had been designated as classified by the bureau's director-general.

Because of the nature of his work, Peng was subject to permanent confidentiality obligations under the Classified National Security Information Protection Act.

In his first trial, the Taoyuan District Court convicted Peng on charges of violating Article 30, Paragraph 1 of the pre-amended National Intelligence Services Act and sentenced him to four years in prison.

Peng appealed, but in July 2025, the Taiwan High Court rejected it, noting that he acted fully aware of the situation between Taiwan and China yet still sought employment there and posted information from his time in the NSB that led to the leak of classified intelligence.

Peng appealed again, but the Supreme Court rejected it, making the verdict final.