SEOUL, May 1: A United States arms dealer has been ordered to face interrogation over his possible links to South Korean Army procurement officers suspected of leaking military secrets, security authorities said on Wednesday.

``Our summons has been sent directly to Donald Ratliff, asking him to face an investigation,'' said a spokesman for South Korea's government intelligence organization, the National Security Planning Agency (NSPA).

Ratliff has been holed up in US military lodging facilities in Seoul since Kim Taek-Jun, a South Korean Air Force lieutenant colonel, was arrested last week on charges of passing secret information on military projects.

South Korean security officers have accused Kim, an acquisition bureau officer, of taking money in return for passing secrets, including the purchase of planes equipped with early warning devices, to arms dealers.

Secrets leaked to the arms dealers allegedly included plans to purchase guided missiles, sophisticated planes and radar systems from foreign contractors, they said.

Following Kim's arrest, security officers expanded their probe into other South Korean acquisiton officers and arms dealders, including Ratliff.

``Ratliff, a retired Army officer and businessman not affiliated with US Forces Korea (USFK), has been staying at lodging facilities in the (US military's) Yongsan compound here,'' a US military source in Seoul said.

But he denied a South Korean newspaper report that US authorities had refused to hand him over to South Korean investigators.

``That part of the article is an ablosute lie. We have been coordinating very closely with the Seoul Prosecutors's Office,'' USFK spokesman Jim Coles said in a statement. Coles also said the Chosun newspaper had printed ``erroneous information'' on ``the status of a US civilian allegedly involved in an espionage case.''

In an unconfirmed article on Wednesday, Chosun quoted sources as saying that the American was suspected of being a spy.

It was the first military graft scandal in South Korea since former Defense minister Lee Yang-Ho was sacked and arrested in October last year on charges of leaking military secrets.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.