The second-highest ranking officer in the military command defending South Korea was arrested late on Saturday on embezzlement charges, Defence Ministry officers said.
Shin Il-soon, deputy commander of the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command, was taken into custody after a military court issued a warrant on suspected wrongdoings dating back to 2000, when he was commander of South Korea's Third Army, the officers said.
"He is facing embezzlement charges but no bribery charges," an officer at the Defence Ministry's prosecutors' office said by telephone.
Shin, a four-star South Korean army general, is second in command after General Leon LaPorte, who also commands the US military in South Korea and the United Nations Command overseeing the Korean War armistice.
Shin has been under investigation for embezzling military funds for personal use while serving as Third Army commander and deputy commander of the Combined Forces Command, South Korean media reports said.
Created in 1978, the Combined Forces Command deters military aggression against South Korea and defends it from armed attack.