SHE was dubbed Korea's Mata Hari.

Won Jeong Hwa, 34, was arrested in August on suspicion of posing as a defector and sleeping with South Korean military officers in exchange for classified information on weapons systems and the locations of key military installations.

Yesterday, a court near Seoul jailed the North Korean defector for five years for spying.

Won was trained in the North to infiltrate the South's military and assassinate key figures with toxic chemicals, including North Korean defectors who have been critical of the communist state.

Won's lawyer said the five-year sentence was tougher than expected and he and his client are considering an appeal.

Her trial came as ties between the two Koreas had chilled after a new conservative president took office in the South in February.

Prosecutors saidWon would strike up relationships with soldiers in key positions, seduce them and ask them for military secrets in exchange for sexual favours.

Won, who had faced up to life in prison, had admitted in court to her guilt.

She spoke in a soft voice at hearings and asked for leniency so that she could be reunited with a seven-year-old daughter she had with a businessman in China.

But prosecutors said she was hardly the meek woman who appeared in court.

They submitted pictures showing scars they said she received in commando training in the North.

South Korean media said Won tried to assassinate a South Korean officer in Hong Kong using an aphrodisiac laced with poison but failed.

Won was trusted enough to give 52 lectures at military bases as a defector. It was not until the 33rd lecture that she attracted suspicion for taking a pro-Pyongyang line in her rhetoric to the troops.

Still, the North's official media denounced her as a traitor for leaving the country, calling her "human scum crazy for money, vanity and swindling".

- REUTERS

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