Washington, Aug 2 (IANS): A former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) employee with top secret security clearance is set to face up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to being an agent of the Chinese government.

Kun Shan Chun, also known as Joey Chun, was arrested by the FBI in March after an undercover operation and appeared in a New York court on Monday, CNN reported.

The 46-year old confessed to providing "sensitive" FBI information to an individual with connections to the Chinese government on a number of occasions, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Originally born in China, Chun was a naturalised US citizen who had been an employee of the FBI for 19 years.

According to the complaint, Chun tried to recruit an undercover agent to provide him with confidential information, which he said could be exchanged for cash if it was sent to his associates in China, reports CNN.

Chun pleaded guilty to one charge of acting in the United States as an agent of China without providing notice to the Attorney General.

In a statement announcing the outcome, New York Southern District US Attorney Preet Bharara said, as an American who had worked as a foreign agent, Chun had "betrayed our nation".

"And when the perpetrator is an FBI employee, like Kun Shan Chun, the threat is all the more serious and the betrayal all the more duplicitous," CNN quoted Bharara as saying.

Chun will be sentenced on December 2.