The indictments are in and it isn’t looking good for those indicted:
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in interim results announced Friday said it indicted Chang Min-ho, a 44-year-old ethnic Korean businessman from the U.S. and alleged leader of the ring; Sohn Chong-mok, a former student activist; Lee Jung-hoon, a former member of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party; Lee Jin-gang, an employee in Chang’s firm; and Choi Ki-young, the DLP vice secretary general.
The office said the spy ring dubbed Ilshimhoe consisted of four cells. One of them was tasked with promoting the North’s Songun or military-first ideology and led by Lee Jung-hoon, who was in charge of targeting the Seoul area in the DLP. Another led by Lee Jin-gang was in charge of targeting civic organizations. Prosecutors described the scandal as an attempt to establish a fifth column by infiltrating political parties and converting activists to North Korean ideologies.
Members allegedly got instructions form the North directly or by e-mail to organize anti-American activities, such as protests against the planned Korea-U.S. free trade agreement and the move of U.S. Forces Korea headquarters to Pyeongtaek. It also allegedly spied on leading DLP members and passed confidential documents including one on the disposition of U.S. troop bases to Pyongyang.
The communist country tried to cement its influence in the DLP by ordering members to get a certain unidentified person elected as party chairman, prosecutors said. In e-mails, North Korea reportedly assured members that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il treasures them “like very precious gold.â€
Most interesting is how little money the “precious gold” betrayed their country for:
Chang Min-ho allegedly described North Korea as “my country†and South Korea as the “enemy’s rearguard†in a report to the North, while Choi Ki-young allegedly pledged allegiance to Kim Jong-il saying the military-first ideology “is the only best answer.†Chang allegedly received US$16,500 in operational funds, Lee Jung-hoon $2,000 and Lee Jin-gang $3,000.
All this spy scandal does is confirm what everyone already knew, that the anti-US activities in South Korea are organized by North Korean agents in order to drive a wedge between the US and South Korea. I can accept the fact that North Korea is conducting anti-US activities in South Korea; that is to be expected, but what I can’t accept are the politicians in South Korea that jump on any anti-US issue in order to demagoge the issue to their own political advantage. That is what gives the anti-US groups legitimacy in the Korean public when they see the politicians taking up the anti-US causes. Then again the political demagoguery of anti-US issues was enough to get one them elected President.
Go check out One Free Korea for a great analysis of the indictments.
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11:21 am on December 12th, 2006 1
[...] First of all let me say I am always skeptical of polls taken in Korea, but the results on this one sound about right. Basically you have over 60% of the population who either support or don’t care one way or the other about the relocation of USFK to Camp Humphreys. I actually find these numbers encouraging because for the last year the USFK relocation to Camp Humphreys has been hit with constant anti-US demonstrations organized by North Korean agents and the issue has been demagoged continuously by Korean activists and politicians to advance their own agendas. Heck the demagoging of the Camp Humphreys issue was even picked up by American leftist Cindy Sheehan. Despite all of this the leftists and spies still couldn’t sway the majority of public opinion in Pyeongtaek against the relocation. It is an encouraging sign that the South Korean love affair with leftism and anti-Americanism is slowly waning. [...]
7:07 am on December 13th, 2006 2
[...] Those of us who have served in Korea for awhile knew the 2008 timeline wasn’t going to happen, but 2013 give me a break? The Korean government has never wanted to allow the USFK relocation to Camp Humphreys just like they have never really wanted to take operational control from USFK either. Both the Yongsan and the operational control issues have long served as great cannonfodder by South Korean politicians looking to demagoge the issue to their own political advantage. Plus the Koreans have never wanted to fully fund the move despite all the prime real estate they are gaining from the closed out USFK facilities. Heck they won’t even properly fund the US-ROK Alliance while giving over a billion dollars to North Korea a year! You also have the Fifth Column in South Korea, organized by North Korean agents that want to stop the move because North Korea wants to keep 2ID and USFK locked into their current locations that are well within artillery range of North Korea which would mean their easy destruction during war time. Additionally the locations of the bases, particularly Yongsan have been completely surrounded by urban cities which has led to accidents and incidents with the Korean public that gets demagoged by the North Korean sponsored anti-US activists groups in order to draw a wedge between USFK and the general Korean public. The consolidation of US forces would remove all US forces out of North Korean artillery range and additionally under the ballistic missile protection of US Army PATRIOT missile batteries. This would create better force protection for USFK forces along with giving USFK commanders more flexibility during war time. [...]
6:44 pm on May 9th, 2007 3
3:27 am on November 2nd, 2007 4