WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. court has upheld a 2008 ruling to grant political asylum to a former South Korean intelligence agent who claims to face threats from both South and North Korea, sources here said Tuesday.

Kim Ki-sam, who left South Korea's state spy agency in 2000, applied for asylum in the U.S. in 2003, saying he would face persecution and prosecution if he was forced to return to South Korea because he had revealed information about secret operations to help then-President Kim Dae-jung win the Nobel Peace Prize.