WASHINGTON - An American who worked for NASA was charged with illegally shipping infrared military technology to South Korea, the Department of Justice announced Monday.

Kue Sang Chun, 66, of Avon Lake, Ohio, was charged with one count of illegally exporting US defense articles and one count of knowingly making and subscribing a false US individual income tax return, the department said.

Chun, a former employee at the NASA Glenn Research Center, was not however "accused of taking technology or related materials from the research center," a department statement said.

One charge alleges that Chun, from March 2000 to November 2005, "knowingly exported and caused the export from the United States to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) of Infra Red Focal Plane Array detectors and Infra Red camera engines which were designated as defense articles on the US Munitions List," it added.

Another charged the suspect with not declaring the income and paying taxes on the $83,399.08 of taxable income he earned during 2005 from allegedly illegal activities.

"This defendant is charged with violating important regulations designed to protect national security," said Steven Dettelbach, US Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. "He did it for money and, according to the charges, he intentionally failed to pay taxes on the money he made from his crimes."

(AFP)