The Defense Agency plans to make penalties for personnel and Self-Defense Forces members who leak secret information harsher by raising the maximum prison term from one year to five years, agency sources said Saturday.
The agency hopes to submit a bill to amend the SDF Law to the current Diet session.
The move follows a spy scandal in which a senior Maritime Self-Defense Force officer was charged last September with passing defense secrets to a Russian military attache in Tokyo.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.