The Information and Communication Ministry will pass a series of anti-wiretap measures for mobile phones after the intelligence service admitted to bugging the cell phones of influential figures.

Information and Communication Minister Chin Dae-je told a Tuesday news briefing that the ministry will introduce by year's end improved encryption for CDMA mobile phones to dispel public fear over bugging.

A proposed authorization system will also check if a mobile phone in use is an illegally cloned handset every time a call is sent or received.

The ministry will also ban the use of illegally cloned handsets by requiring investigative agencies to indict offenders by the first half of next year.