A Chinese general says in widely seen video clips that his country failed to prosecute several high-profile spies over the past decade because the cases were too embarrassing to be made public.

Major General Jin Yinan discusses the cases in what appears to be a private briefing for government officials, but clips of the remarks were posted on video-sharing websites. The clips were removed from Chinese websites but remain available on global sites like YouTube.

In one of the clips, Jin discusses the case of former ambassador to South Korea Li Bin, who was sentenced to seven years in prison on corruption charges. Jin says the ambassador had been passing secrets to South Korean officials but the allegations were too embarrassing to be brought up at his trial.

Jin also says Kang Rixin, a former head of China's nuclear program, was involved in selling secrets about the nation's nuclear power industry to other countries. Kang was jailed last year on corruption charges.